NACDS Board member Lynne Fruth, president & chairman of the board of Fruth Pharmacy, and Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) at a previous NACDS RxIMPACT Day on Capitol Hill.
NACDS is urging support for a bipartisan letter led by Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) and Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) thanking Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar for including direct and indirect remuneration (DIR) fee reform in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ recently released proposed rule on the Medicare Part D for plan year 2020. The letter notes that the proposal would help reduce patients’ out-of-pocket expenses and lead to better transparency and greater stability for pharmacies of all sizes across the country. It also urges the Secretary to finalize the proposal as soon as possible so it can be implemented for plan year 2020.
NACDS RxIMPACT initiated a grassroots advocacy effort to build support for the newly drafted letter, calling on state pharmacy associations and NACDS member companies operating in 47 states to ask senators to support the letter. In the first day of the advocacy campaign, pharmacy advocates reached 94 percent of slated Senate targets. To date state pharmacy associations and NACDS member companies have sent 211 Senate communications to reach 84 Senators in 45 states. This builds on NACDS RxIMPACT’s previous mobilization on a letter, also led by Sen. Capito and Sen. Tester, urging action by Secretary Azar on DIR fee reform, which earned the support of 21 senators.
In the House, Reps. Morgan Griffith (R-VA) and Peter Welch (D-VT) drafted their own letter following up with Secretary Azar on their previous communications in support of the proposed DIR fee reform.
