COVID-19/Pharmacy Revised Update from June 8, 2020

Attention: All Providers and Pharmacies Effective Date: June 24, 2020 Providers should monitor the Texas Children’s Health Plan (TCHP) Provider Portal regularly for alerts and updates associated to the COVID-19 event.  TCHP reserves the right to update and/or change this information without prior notice due to the evolving nature of the COVID-19 event. Call to action: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has removed the emergency use authorization of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) and chloroquine due to controlled studies showing no evidence of benefit for mortality or other outcomes such as hospital length of stay or need for mechanical ventilation of HCQ treatment in hospitalized patients with COVID-19.  The World Health Organization (WHO) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) have also ended their HCQ COVID-19 studies in hospitalized patients citing lack of benefits compared to placebo.  Their decisions were based on recommendations from the British RECOVERY trial found at:  https://www.recoverytrial.net/files/hcq-recovery-statement-050620-final-002.pdf. How this impacts providers:  Prescribers should adjust their prescribing patterns accordingly and communicate these changes to their staff. Next steps for providers:  Providers should stay vigilant about additional COVID-19 communication. If you have any questions, please email Provider Network Management at: providerrelations@texaschildrens.org.For access to all provider alerts,log into: www.thecheckup.org or www.texaschildrenshealthplan.org/for-providers