43-61-5 - Legislative intent; establishment of program in Department of Human Services; Office of Aging and Adult Services to play primary role in administering program.
§ 43-61-5. Legislative intent; establishment of program in Department of Human Services; Office of Aging and Adult Services to play primary role in administering program.
(1) The Legislature finds that many low income seniors and other indigents are unaware of bona fide assistance programs that are voluntarily offered by pharmaceutical manufacturers to the elderly and underprivileged. It is the intent of the Legislature to take steps necessary to make it more widely known that such assistance is available and to make it easier for people to apply for that assistance.
(2) The Mississippi Seniors and Indigents Rx Program is established in the Department of Human Services to help seniors and qualified indigents in accessing pharmaceutical manufacturers' discount cards and pharmaceutical assistance programs and to provide seniors and qualified indigents with applications for those programs. The department shall coordinate the operation of the program with the Division of Medicaid, the Department of Mental Health, the State Department of Health and the State Department of Rehabilitation Services to insure that the services available under the program are maximized and that paperwork and inconvenience to the seniors and qualified indigents are minimized. The department may develop, maintain and make available an Internet-based application form to the general public and to each of those state agencies so that seniors and qualified indigents may get applications for pharmaceutical assistance programs at the local offices of any of those state agencies. The department may coordinate with pharmaceutical manufacturers to obtain program applications at no cost to the state.
(3) The Office of Aging and Adult Services of the Department of Human Services shall play a primary role in administering the program to seniors in the same way that the office assists in administering programs of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
Sources: Laws, 2004, ch. 593, § 11, eff from and after July 1, 2004.