Medicare Pharmacy Choice and Access House Bill Introduced This Week: The Ensuring Seniors Access to Local Pharmacies Act, H.R. 1939, was introduced by Reps. Morgan Griffith (R-VA) and Peter Welch (D-VT) on April 5th. The bill would allow community pharmacies…

Your Member of Congress is Coming Home for Two Weeks:  Consider this an opportunity to invite your member of Congress to visit your pharmacy between April 8 and April 22 and brief him or her about PBMs. Here are details:…

Come Give Congress a Piece of Your Mind at the Congressional Pharmacy Fly-In April 26-27:  We are filling the halls of Congress April 26-27 with independent community pharmacies who are passionate about their patients and their practice and are tired…

ACA Repeal Marked up in the House Committees of Jurisdiction: The House Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means Committees marked up their respective instructions to the Budget Committee on party line votes after exhaustive sessions in both committees this…

Generic Drug Payment Bill Introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives:  Bipartisan legislation to increase transparency in generic drug payments in taxpayer-funded federal health programs and preserve patient access to local community pharmacies was introduced in the House this week…

NCPA Hosts DIR Stakeholder Call:  This week NCPA hosted a call with industry partners providing an update on recent developments regarding NCPA’s efforts on pharmacy DIR fees.  Highlights of the briefing: Overview of recent Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services…

House/Senate DIR Bills Introduced: This week, Reps. Morgan Griffith (R-Va.) and Peter Welch (D-Vt.), along with 16 of their colleagues, introduced H.R. 1038, the “Improving Transparency and Accuracy in Medicare Part D Drug Spending Act,” that would prohibit retroactive pharmacy…

NCPA Responds to PBM Efforts to Limit Potential Reforms:  An apparently leaked memorandum has surfaced from Mark Merritt, president and CEO of the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA), to the association’s board of directors. It outlines PCMA’s strategies to mitigate…

NCPA Supports House Bill Recognizing Pharmacists as Health Care Providers:  This week NCPA endorsed H.R. 592, the Pharmacy and Medically Underserved Areas Enhancement Act, which was introduced by U.S. Reps. Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.), G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.), Tom Reed (R-N.Y.) and…

NCPA Members List Top 2017 Political Priorities:   For the fourth consecutive year, NCPA has asked its members to rank their most important legislative and regulatory priorities. The top issue chosen by respondents is to end the retroactive nature of DIR…

Hi all –NCPA is pleased to report that CMS released an analysis related to Part D DIR fees and the impact of these fees on the Part D program today.  The CMS analysis is an important step toward greater transparency…

NCPA Asks President-elect Trump to Scrutinize Pharmacy Benefit Managers in Review of Prescription Drug Prices:  This week NCPA sent a letter to President-elect Donald J. Trump urging his Administration to examine the role pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) play in escalating…

DEA Revises Registrant Renewal Policy:  Heeding the concerns of NCPA and other registrants, the DEA has quickly revised a recently-issued policy change on renewal applications that could have decreased patient access to controlled substances and had audit implications for pharmacies. Starting…

Widespread Support for Ban on Part D Retroactive DIRs:  NCPA and nearly 100 other pharmacy stakeholder organizations have expressed their support to the key lawmakers behind legislation that would prohibit retroactive DIR pharmacy fees on Medicare Part D clean claims.…

Bipartisan legislation that would preserve state board of pharmacy oversight of the vast majority of independent community pharmacies that compound medications was introduced in the House last week. H.R. 3089 is sponsored by Reps. Morgan Griffith (R-Va.), Diana DeGette (D-Colo.),…

July 16, 2013 Delay of the Employer Mandate In early July, the Obama Administration announced a delay of the 2014 employer mandate that would require companies with more than 51 full-time workers to offer their employees health insurance or face…

Pharmacists in Pennsylvania would be granted authority to vaccinate patients above the age of seven with a parent’s consent under two bills being considered by the Pennsylvania General Assembly. The bills would also allow pharmacy interns to vaccinate under the…

Independent community pharmacies could, under certain conditions, collectively negotiate the terms and conditions of insurance contracts they must sign with PBMs under a bill introduced by Reps. Tom Marino (R-Pa.) and Judy Chu (D-Calif.) last week. NCPA endorsed H.R. 1188, the Preserving Our Hometown Independent…

As the new Congress continues to take shape, the Members of the Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee were announced:Chairman: Joe Pitts (PA), Vice Chairman: Michael C. Burgess, M.D. (TX), Ralph Hall (TX), Ed Whitfield (KY), John Shimkus (IL), Mike Rogers (MI), Tim Murphy…

 On Friday, NCPA sent a letter to leaders on the House and Senate Armed Services Committee expressing our views on provisions in the defense bill that pertain to the TRICARE pharmacy program.  The letter expresses our strong concerns about the…

 Many sections of the health care reform law are set to be implemented in 2013.  Of note to community pharmacy is the elimination of the deduction that employers receive when offering Part D coverage to employees.  It is also worth…

 Congresswoman DeLauro (D-CT) and Congresswoman Lowey (D-NY) introduced legislation on drug compounding this week. Among other provisions, the Supporting Access to Formulated and Effective Compounded Drugs Act of 2012 would: ·     Notice to Patient:  Require pharmacists to confirm with the patient that they are…

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has issued a proposed rule to implement the Multi-State Plan Program (MSPP) pursuant to the Affordable Care Act (ACA).  Through contracts with OPM, health insurance issuers will offer at least two multi-state plans…