NCPA Webinar Will Provide a Guide to Grassroots Action

In advance of NCPA’s Month of Action in August, on June 28 at 8:00 pm ET, NCPA will be hosting a webinar sponsored by RxSafe to help members become more effective grassroots advocates. NCPA is holding the Month of Action in lieu of a fly-in due to several factors that made a traditional fly-in unfeasible this year and is encouraging all NCPA members to invite their members of Congress to their pharmacy and engage with them in August. You can register for the webinar here and to participate in the month of action here.

NCPA Member Chris Schiller Running for Congress

NCPA member Chris Schiller is running to represent Oklahoma's Second Congressional District where Representative Markwayne Mullin (R) is vacating his seat to run for the Senate. Schiller, owner of Economy Pharmacy in Eastern Oklahoma, is the immediate past president of the Oklahoma Pharmacists Association. The Oklahoma primary is this month on June 28th, and it takes a lot of money to run a congressional campaign. Every dollar makes a significant difference in helping Schiller win this seat. If you would like the join Chris’s Pharmacy Steering Committee please contribute to Schiller’s campaign here. And spread the word to your friends and colleagues about his campaign! You can learn more about Schiller through his latest television ad or on his website, Facebook, and Twitter pages.

NCPA Provides Florida Medicaid Advice on Protecting
Access to Community Pharmacy

This week, NCPA submitted a response to the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration’s request for information on ways to improve the Medicaid managed care program. NCPA’s comments focused on innovative ways to protect patient access to community-pharmacist services, which was a topic highlighted by the RFI. NCPA pointed out that Florida can protect that access by doing one or more of the following: addressing patient steering, requiring MCOs/PBMs to adopt transparent reimbursement methodologies, administering pharmacy benefits through the fee-for-service program, or implementing a “single PBM” model.

NCPA Thanks Governors for Signing PBM Bills

This week, NCPA sent thank you letters to Gov. Bill Lee (R-Tenn.) and Gov. Phil Scott (R-Vt.) for signing PBM reform legislation. Last week, Lee signed HB 2661 requiring PBMs to adopt reimbursement methods that accurately reflect actual acquisition costs and protect patients from being forced to use PBM-owned pharmacies. In Vermont Scott signed H. 353, a bill that addresses patient steering and also requires the state to look into issues such as reimbursement transparency, spread pricing, and other PBM practices that raise costs for patients and plans.

Encourage your Patients to Fight Back against PBM Abuses

NCPA has a toolkit of resources available to engage your patients and encourage them to participate in Fight4Rx. Fight4Rx is NCPA’s patient focused initiative to help educate them on the role PBMs play in the affordability and access of prescription drugs and to help them fight back by engaging Congress and the administration. They can also engage with Fight4Rx through Facebookand Twitter, but the easiest way for them to take action is to text Fight4Rx to 52886.

FDA’s Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee
to Meet June 8

As a reminder, FDA’s Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee will meet on June 8. The committee will discuss the following four bulk drug substances nominated for inclusion on the 503A Bulks List: Ammonium tetrathiomolybdate, enclomiphene citrate, ferric subsulfate, and glutathione. NCPA will be coordinating a presentation and a statement in support of glutathione, a substance NCPA nominated, for the June 8 meeting.

NCPA State Legislative Activity Update

NCPA tracks state legislation related to our top three state priorities: Medicaid reform, scope of practice and compensation for services, and PBM reform and regulation. Click each issue for a report of bills that have been introduced so far this session specifically dealing with these three issue areas. You can access the individual bill language and basic information on the bill by clicking on the bill numbers in the attached report. Bills that have moved this week are listed at the top in the “Recently Updated” section.

NCPA’s Advocacy Center Update provides a weekly detailed summary of recent and breaking legislative, regulatory, and state developments impacting independent community pharmacy and NCPA’s efforts to affect policies benefitting its membership and the industry. The weekly update is distributed to NCPA leadership, steering committees, allied organizations/stakeholders and major contributors to the NCPA LDF and PAC. The weekly update is intended exclusively for the recipient and is not for external distribution.