NACDS signed on to a letter supporting the Restoring Access to Medications Act, which would allow Americans to use the funds in their healthcare accounts to purchase over-the-counter (OTC) medications.
With opinion research unveiled during the 2017 NACDS Annual Meeting, NACDS members can show members of Congress what their constituents think about key elements of pharmacy’s “Access Agenda.”
Arlington, VA – In a column published in today’s print and online editions of The Hill, the National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) positioned pharmacy patient care and collaboration across healthcare segments as vital to improving health and wellness nationwide.
The column reflects NACDS’ “Access Agenda” – which reflects pharmacy’s collaborative approach to patient care and to public policy development.
NACDS President and CEO Steven C. Anderson, IOM, CAE cited as a healthcare-delivery success the broad-based recognition of pharmacy’s vital role in providing vaccines – an evolution that gained momentum following the flu pandemic of 2009. He also noted the strong bipartisan support for the Pharmacy and Medically Underserved Areas Enhancement Act (H.R. 592 and S. 109) – legislation that would enhance underserved Medicare patients’ access to state-approved, pharmacist-provided services.
In addition to urging proactive measures, he also noted the importance of doing no harm to pharmacy patient care, urging Congress to preserve pharmacy benefits and pharmacy services in Medicare and Medicaid amid any reviews of current programs.
“In healthcare delivery, as in healthcare policymaking, there is no panacea. However, lessons learned over the past decade – including those related to pharmacists’ enhanced vaccination authority – suggest that seeking improved access for patients through highly educated, trusted and accessible professionals like pharmacists can yield bipartisan accomplishments amid times of need,” Anderson wrote.
“In this way, similar and additional initiatives – fueled by collaboration among various segments of healthcare delivery and by leaders in government – could notch progress toward remedies for patients, as well as for the policymaking and political arenas alike.”
More information about NACDS’ Access Agenda can be found at AccessAgenda.NACDS.org.
Significant steps in a changing healthcare environment are unfolding in Washington. The Senate approved the nomination of Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) last week in a 52-47 vote as the next Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). In related news, Seema Verma, nominee for Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), is set to appear before the Senate Committee on Finance for her confirmation hearing on February 16.
Collaboration is absolutely essential to maximize the potential of the healthcare delivery system, and to prevent policies that stifle it.
Verma, a healthcare consultant, notably has worked with state governments on implementing Medicaid expansion after enactment of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
Price was sworn in as Secretary hours after he was confirmed. He is now charged with leading President Trump’s efforts to dismantle key parts of the ACA. Price, an orthopedic surgeon who practiced surgery for nearly 20 years, has been a member of Congress since 2005, serving most recently as chairman of the House Budget Committee.
NACDS expressed support and a willingness to collaborate with Price and Verma when their nominations were announced late last year, and issued a statement from NACDS CEO Steven C. Anderson, IOM, CAE. Anderson said, “NACDS welcomes the nominations of Congressman Tom Price to serve as Secretary of Health and Human Services and Seema Verma to serve as Administrator of CMS. We are enthusiastic to help leverage pharmacy to improve Americans’ health and well-being.”
Anderson added, “Collaboration is absolutely essential to maximize the potential of the healthcare delivery system, and to prevent policies that stifle it. NACDS looks forward to engaging completely in the ongoing work of developing and implementing solutions that benefit American patients and consumers.”
As pharmacy looks to expand its role in healthcare delivery, it is promising that Price has already expressed support for pharmacists—specifically in terms of provider status. During his Senate confirmation hearing, in response to a question from Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), Price said, “Paying pharmacists in underserved areas to engage in certain medical services could work well in those states where pharmacists have such licensure and a setting appropriate to the services, where primary care doctors continue to be involved in [ READ MORE ]
This week NACDS’ Anne Fellows and Mike Duteau, vice president of Business Development and Strategic Relations for Kinney Drugs Inc., met with Gov. Phil Scott (R-VT) during the Vermont Association of Chain Drug Stores’ 2017 Legislative Lobby Day. Attendees met with Gov. Scott to discuss several initiatives, including expansion of pharmacist immunization authority and plans for the state to comply with requirements in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Covered Outpatient Drugs Final Rule. The Final Rule addresses key areas of Medicaid drug reimbursement and changes made to the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program by the Affordable Care Act.
Palm Beach, Fla. – At the National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) Regional Chain Conference today, the Association’s leadership made the case for pharmacy’s pivotal role in the national dialogue about healthcare, and for NACDS’ essential value in advancing a pro-pharmacy and pro-patient agenda.
Healthcare sectors don’t understand each other’s situations. That’s a prerequisite for collaboration and for development of an end-to-end solution, and to educate legislators and regulators. NACDS is helping to identify these end-to-end solutions, benefiting total healthcare, patients and pharmacy.
The NACDS Regional Chain Conference brings together traditional drug and grocery chains with between four and 250 locations, and their supplier partners who help to meet consumers’ needs in health and wellness and throughout the store.
The following are representative quotes from the this morning’s Opening General Session:
Kristin Williams, senior vice president, chief health officer, Hy-Vee, Inc., NACDS Regional Chain Conference chair:
“This meeting and the topics addressed in the coming days could not be timelier with the current uncertainties in the healthcare industry. Regional chains are well equipped to face these challenges and develop innovative solutions for retail community pharmacy. We deliver personalized care, we adapt to emerging community needs and pilot new products and services in partnership with the suppliers gathered here today.”
Martin Otto, chief merchant and chief financial officer, H-E-B, NACDS chairman of the Board:
“We need to participate by leading public policy solutions for healthcare. We need long-term, end-to-end thinking about healthcare, its connection to other spending needs, and how individual actions affect the overall situation … Healthcare sectors don’t understand each other’s situations. That’s a prerequisite for collaboration and for development of an end-to-end solution, and to educate legislators and regulators. NACDS is helping to identify these end-to-end solutions, benefiting total healthcare, patients and pharmacy.”
Steven C. Anderson, IOM, CAE, NACDS president and CEO:
“Companies and associations are going to have to totally change how they address issues in health policy, and in the political world that elects the leaders that establish the policy in which we are involved. I think associations are going to need to be fleet of foot, flexible, smart, shrewd, astute, [ READ MORE ]
During his Senate confirmation hearing this week and since being nominated for Secretary of Health and Human Services, U.S. Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) has focused on six principles of healthcare reform: affordability, accessibility, quality, innovation, responsiveness, choices. In fact, Rep. Price has focused on those principles for some time – he described them in an op-ed column in The Hill back in 2013 and likely many times before that during his Congressional and medical careers.
Importantly, pharmacy’s contributions to healthcare affordability, accessibility, quality, innovation, responsiveness and choices are highly regarded among Republicans, Democrats and independents alike.
To be sure, these terms are cited frequently across party lines. The real debate exists in the details of how these principles are best achieved. I cannot help but note at this pivotal time in our nation’s healthcare policy skirmishes that pharmacy makes a powerful case for its role in advancing all of these principles. Consider the following:
Affordability: In a national survey commissioned by NACDS, 65 percent of respondents said pharmacists are credible information sources on opportunities to save money.
Accessibility: Nearly all Americans (91%) live within five miles of a community pharmacy.
Quality: In a national survey commissioned by NACDS, more than seven-in-ten respondents who are considered heavy users of pharmacy services reported favorable opinions of pharmacies – which is a very strong rating in comparison with other segments of healthcare delivery.
Innovation: NACDS’ training program to advance pharmacy-based pharmacogenomics – a form of personalized medicine that involves using genetic data to ensure medications are used in a safe and effective manner – presents but one example of the industry’s commitment to innovation.
Responsiveness: NACDS’ training program to advance pharmacy-based point-of-care testing for flu, strep and other acute and chronic conditions reflects pharmacy’s ability to improve options available to patients regarding the manner and environment in which they are treated.
Choices: NACDS advocates strongly for patient choice, and an example of this is maintaining a co-payment structure that secures military families’ and veterans’ ability to choose community pharmacies over mail order as the source for their medications. The Congressional Budget Office has found that higher copayments “cause some chronically ill beneficiaries to stop taking their medications, resulting in more [ READ MORE ]
Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-KY) met with Co-Chief Operating Officer of Walgreens Boots Alliance Alex Gourlay, NACDS vice chairman, at the 2016 NACDS RxIMPACT Day on Capitol Hill. Rep. Guthrie was a lead sponsor of NACDS-backed pharmacist provider status legislation in the previous Congress, and will be one of the members re-introducing the bill in the House in the coming days. The bill was reintroduced in the Senate on Thursday with the bipartisan original co-sponsorship of more than one-quarter of the Senate.
The newly convened 115th Congress has started to announce congressional committee assignments. Significantly for NACDS, Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA), the only pharmacist currently serving in Congress, landed a sought-after seat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee and its Health Subcommittee.
In the Senate, freshman Sen. Todd Young (R-IN), who was an original cosponsor of the Pharmacy and Medically Underserved Areas Enhancement Act in the prior Congress, was named as a member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.
The legislation would enhance underserved Medicare patients’ access to state-approved pharmacist services. The lead sponsor of the bill in the 114th Congress, Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-KY), will remain vice chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Health Subcommittee. It is encouraging that these congressional pharmacy supporters are well placed, especially as Congress prepares for reforms to the Affordable Care Act.
The Senate voted 51 to 48 early Thursday morning to approve a budget resolution that provides a blueprint for House and Senate committees to begin working on legislation that would repeal key portions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
The Senate action is largely procedural and lays the groundwork for a special kind of legislation called a reconciliation bill, which will be immune to Democratic filibuster. Senate Democrats staged a rare late-night protest against repealing the ACA on the Senate floor, forcing a series of votes known as a “vote-a-rama,” and expressed concern that millions of Americans are at risk of losing healthcare coverage.
The bill will now go to the House of Representatives for a vote expected to take place on Friday.
NACDS and allied associations continue to advocate for a pro-patient and pro-pharmacy approach to any related modifications to pharmacy reimbursement in government programs.
The opening line of an NACDS-authored article in the January 2, 2017, edition of Chain Drug Review says it all. “I will spare you the introductory paragraph that attempts eloquence,” writes NACDS President & CEO Steven C. Anderson, IOM, CAE. “Let’s get right to the point. In NACDS’ view, 2017 could be one of the most pivotal years in healthcare policy and in pharmacy patient care.”
NACDS already is waging a two-front campaign related to the ACA.
While NACDS’ article on the policy outlook for the coming year has become somewhat of an annual tradition, its content this time around is decidedly untraditional. For example, Anderson noted the importance of continuing to bird-dog the implementation of pharmacy provisions of the Affordable Care Act and its subsequent Executive Branch rules, while at the same time advocating for pharmacy’s perspective amid emerging efforts to somehow repeal and replace the law.
“NACDS already is waging a two-front campaign related to the ACA,” Anderson noted.
The article also describes NACDS’ work on issues related to provider status for pharmacists; scope of practice; TRICARE and more. In addition, Anderson urges participation in NACDS RxIMPACT grassroots programs, which have become essential to telling pharmacy’s story to government leaders and to earning progress on a pro-patient and pro-pharmacy agenda.
Calling on pharmacy advocates to match the amazing results of the 2016 NACDS RxIMPACT Day on Capitol Hill – when they met with 90 percent of the U.S. Congress – Anderson declared that “pharmacy’s engagement is needed to defend and advance pharmacy patient care.”
The 2017 NACDS RxIMPACT Day on Capitol Hill will be held March 14 and 15 in Washington, D.C.
The article that starts with a plain-spoken assessment of the public policy stakes in 2017 concludes with similar candor regarding the importance of NACDS’ flagship grassroots advocacy event: “For the good of your business and the patients you serve, you need to be there – perhaps like never before.”
