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<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Op-ed articulates support for pharmacist provider status legislation in Congress</em></p>
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<p style="vertical-align: baseline;"><strong>Boston, Mass.</strong> – With the stage set for the National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) Total Store Expo – which will be held in Boston August 23-26 – <em>The Boston Globe</em> published a pro-pharmacy op-ed in its online opinion section, Podium. The op-ed “<a href="http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/editorials/2014/08/22/xxxxpharmacies/0s0906HGzhKnbwfCl9oo1J/story.html">To improve medical care, enlist pharmacists</a>” is co-authored by Steven C. Anderson, IOM, CAE, president & CEO of NACDS, and Michael Malloy, PharmD, dean of the MCPHS University School of Pharmacy – Worcester/Manchester.</p>
<p style="vertical-align: baseline;">Offered exclusively to <em>The Boston Globe</em>, the op-ed points to proposed legislation that would enable the nation’s pharmacists to help patients in underserved communities receive quality care, while helping to reduce burdensome healthcare costs. </p>
<p style="vertical-align: baseline;">Excerpts from the op-ed are available below. The full text of the piece can be viewed <a href="http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/editorials/2014/08/22/xxxxpharmacies/0s0906HGzhKnbwfCl9oo1J/story.html">here</a>:</p>
<p style="vertical-align: baseline;"><em>“Proposed bipartisan legislation in the US House of Representatives — H.R. 4190 — would increase accessibility to affordable health care services for Medicare beneficiaries who are in medically underserved communities. The law would allow pharmacists under Medicare Part B to provide medically underserved communities with services that pharmacists are currently permitted to administer according to state law.</em></p>
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<p style="vertical-align: baseline;"><em>“This would not only begin to improve the health of people in medically underserved communities, it would help reduce the health care costs that burden our communities, businesses, and government by better managing chronic health issues that, if not managed closely, can lead to repeated hospital admissions or catastrophic situations.</em></p>
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<p><em>“There are currently more than 4,000 licensed pharmacists in Massachusetts working in neighborhood pharmacies across the Commonwealth. The enactment of H.R. 4190 would allow these qualified health care professionals to get to work for medically underserved communities in Massachusetts and perform for Medicare patients important services such as vaccination screening and delivery, chronic disease management, medication therapy management, and preventive screenings such as testing of glucose, blood pressure, and cholesterol levels.</em><em> </em></p>
<p><em>“A July Internet survey of likely voters who are informed and engaged when it comes to current events found that 79 percent of respondents favor the legislation — including 36 percent who strongly favor it. The survey, conducted by Public Opinion Strategies and commissioned by the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, also found tremendous bipartisan support, with 85 percent of Democrats and 76 percent of Republicans supporting it. This reflects the bill’s current co-sponsorship, with 50 Democrats and 44 Republicans cosponsoring it in the US House of Representatives.”</em></p>
