Governor Bobby Jindal Announces the Appointment of Damion Cummins to the Medicaid Pharmaceutical and Therapeutics Committee

Today, Governor Bobby Jindal announced the appointment of Damion Cummins to the Medicaid Pharmaceutical and Therapeutics Committee.

The Medicaid Pharmaceutical and Therapeutics Committee serves to develop and maintain a legal pharmacopoeia, a list of preferred drugs, for Louisiana. The pharmacopoeia is publically available and is formulated after evidence-based analysis of each drug.

According to the statute, the committee is comprised of twenty-one members including the secretary of the Department of Health and Hospitals, the director of the Medicaid program in the Department of Health and Hospitals, the president of the Senate, the speaker of the House of Representatives or their designees. The remaining seventeen members are gubernatorial appointments, subject to senate confirmation, including the following:

• One practicing physician participating in the Title XIX program as a family practitioner selected from recommendations submitted by the Louisiana State Medical Society;
• One practicing physician participating in the Title XIX program as an internal medicine specialist selected from recommendations submitted by the Louisiana State Medical Society;
• One practicing physician participating in the Title XIX program as a pediatrician selected from recommendations submitted by the Louisiana State Medical Society;
• One practicing physician participating in the Title XIX program as a surgeon selected from recommendations submitted by the Louisiana State Medical Society;
• One practicing physician participating in the Title XIX program as an obstetrics/gynecologist selected from recommendations submitted by the Louisiana State Medical Society;
• Two practicing physicians participating in the Title XIX program selected from recommendations submitted by the Louisiana Medical Association;
• Two practicing pharmacists participating in the Title XIX drug program selected from recommendations submitted by the Louisiana Pharmacists Association. (One must be an independent pharmacist and one must be a pharmacist representing a chain pharmacy);
• One practicing physician participating in the Title XIX program as a psychiatrist selected from recommendations submitted by the Louisiana Psychiatric Medical Association;
• A Medicaid recipient;
• One physician representing the Department of Neurology at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center;
• One pediatric oncologist representing the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center;
  One physician with expertise in pharmacology representing the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center;
• One physician with expertise in pharmacology representing Tulane University School of Medicine;
• One pharmacist representing the University of Louisiana at Monroe College of Pharmacy; and
  One pharmacist representing the Xavier University of Louisiana School of Pharmacy.

Damion Cummins, of Baton Rouge, is a mental health counselor at Inspirations.  Cummins will serve as a Medicaid recipient, as required by statute.

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