AMA raises concern about pharmacists providing antiviral therapy.
In President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address, he announced the launch of a Test and Treat Initiative, where consumers testing positive for COVID-19 at certain pharmacies will be given antiviral therapy by an on-site provider on the spot and at no cost.
However, there’s already a debate about who should be able to prescribe these antiviral pills as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) began distributing them in the last few weeks.
The American Medical Association (AMA) expressed concern about the initiative allowing a provider without an established patient-doctor relationship with the consumer to prescribe the pills. In other words, the AMA is uncomfortable with pharmacists or anyone else without an ongoing and well-established medical relationship with the patient prescribing anything under the initiative. According to the AMA, one of the antivirals to be prescribed has over six pages of drug interactions that would require patients to modify or even stop other prescriptions they are taking. The organization stated that prescribing these without full patient history and ongoing monitoring sets a very dangerous precedent because while these pharmacy-based clinics are equipped to treat simple conditions, COVID-19 and the antiviral medications that treat it are too complicated for this on-site service.
On the flip side, pharmacists believe they should be able to prescribe the antivirals if the initiative hopes to meet its stated goal of providing the most vulnerable and underserved Americans with access to lifesaving treatment. Pharmacists believe that expanding the power to prescribe these pills beyond just on-site providers would not only expand access to the initiative but also would be an obvious and safe choice considering pharmacists’ extensive knowledge of medication and side effects.
When asked about the reach of the initiative, pharmacists say that not only should the program be expanded to include a lot more pharmacies nationwide, but that the best way to do that would be to allow them to prescribe the antiviral pills. However, currently the Test and Treat initiative limits participating pharmacies to just those with onsite clinics with a provider.
These types of pharmacies are far less likely to be found in rural and sparsely populated areas. For example, CVS Minute Clinics, which would be eligible to prescribe antivirals under the initiative, make up only 10 percent of all CVS Pharmacies. By limiting the ability to prescribe the antiviral pills to these pharmacies with on-site providers, thousands of other pharmacies across America are ineligible to participate, many in areas that serve some of the hardest hit populations and populations without insurance.
Additionally, pharmacists also believe they would be the perfect prescribers of the antiviral pills. In fact, they say they have already been prescribing some COVID treatments since last year under other federal statutes. Pharmacists also have extensive knowledge about medication, of course, and understand potential interactions and side effects. When asked about the issue, one professor of pharmacy even called pharmacists “medication experts”.
After the AMA issued a statement about their concerns, the Biden administration encouraged people who do have a regular health care provider to continue seeing that provider for testing or when they’ve received a positive COVID-19 test at a treatment site. This appears to have pacified the AMA and other physicians’ worries for the time being. However, there is still a very real concern for Americans without insurance and without access to a primary care physician.
As antiviral pills have begun arriving at pharmacies that signed up for the initiative, a federal website to search and find locations has yet to fully launch but is expected by months end.
With COVID-19 cases falling, increased vaccine and testing availability, and now increased treatment options, Americans are rapidly moving towards a new normal as we hit the two-year anniversary of COVID-19 lockdowns.
As the federal government shutdown drags on, an alarming message began circulating across the healthcare community: “physicians won’t get paid until the government reopens.” The
“PAYGO” (Pay-As-You-Go) refers to a budget enforcement rule designed to impose fiscal discipline: when lawmakers pass legislation that increases mandatory spending or reduces revenue without
Please log in to your account to comment on this article.
Accurately determining the principal diagnosis is critical for compliant billing, appropriate reimbursement, and valid quality reporting — yet it remains one of the most subjective and error-prone areas in inpatient coding. In this expert-led session, Cheryl Ericson, RN, MS, CCDS, CDIP, demystifies the complexities of principal diagnosis assignment, bridging the gap between coding rules and clinical reality. Learn how to strengthen your organization’s coding accuracy, reduce denials, and ensure your documentation supports true medical necessity.
Denials continue to delay reimbursement, increase administrative burden, and threaten financial stability across healthcare organizations. This essential webcast tackles the root causes—rising payer scrutiny, fragmented workflows, inconsistent documentation, and underused analytics—and offers proven, data-driven strategies to prevent and overturn denials. Attendees will gain practical tools to strengthen documentation and coding accuracy, engage clinicians effectively, and leverage predictive analytics and AI to identify risks before they impact revenue. Through real-world case examples and actionable guidance, this session empowers coding, CDI, and revenue cycle professionals to shift from reactive appeals to proactive denial prevention and revenue protection.
Sepsis remains one of the most frequently denied and contested diagnoses, creating costly revenue loss and compliance risks. In this webcast, Angela Comfort, DBA, MBA, RHIA, CDIP, CCS, CCS-P, provides practical, real-world strategies to align documentation with coding guidelines, reconcile Sepsis-2 and Sepsis-3 definitions, and apply compliant queries. You’ll learn how to identify and address documentation gaps, strengthen provider engagement, and defend diagnoses against payer scrutiny—equipping you to protect reimbursement, improve SOI/ROM capture, and reduce audit vulnerability in this high-risk area.
Only ICD10monitor delivers what you need: updates on must-know changes associated with the FY26 IPPS, including new ICD-10-CM/PCS codes, CCs/MCCs, and MS-DRGs, plus insights, analysis and answers to your questions from two of the country’s most respected subject matter experts.
Federal auditors are zeroing in on Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility (IRF) and hospital rehab unit services, with OIG and CERT audits leading to millions in penalties—often due to documentation and administrative errors, not quality of care. Join compliance expert Michael Calahan, PA, MBA, to learn the five clinical “pillars” of IRF-PPS admissions, key documentation requirements, and real-life case lessons to help protect your revenue.
During this essential RACmonitor webcast Michael Calahan, PA, MBA Certified Compliance Officer, will clarify the rules, dispel common misconceptions, and equip you with practical strategies to code, document, and bill high-risk split/shared, incident-to & critical care E/M services with confidence. Don’t let audit risks or revenue losses catch your organization off guard — learn exactly what federal auditors are looking for and how to ensure your documentation and reporting stand up to scrutiny.
Learn how to navigate the proposed elimination of the Inpatient-Only list. Gain strategies to assess admission status, avoid denials, protect compliance, and address impacts across Medicare and non-Medicare payors. Essential insights for hospitals.
RACmonitor is proud to welcome back Dr. Ronald Hirsch, one of his most requested webcasts. In this highly anticipated session, Dr. Hirsch will break down the complex Two Midnight Rule Medicare regulations, translating them into clear, actionable guidance. He’ll walk you through the basics of the rule, offer expert interpretation, and apply the rule to real-world clinical scenarios—so you leave with greater clarity, confidence, and the tools to ensure compliance.
Happy National Doctor’s Day! Learn how to get a complimentary webcast on ‘Decoding Social Admissions’ as a token of our heartfelt appreciation! Click here to learn more →
CYBER WEEK IS HERE! Don’t miss your chance to get 20% off now until Dec. 2 with code CYBER24
