Advocacy
Independent community pharmacists have no better or more effective advocate than NCPA on the issues that impact their patients and pharmacies.
Whether it's at Capitol Hill, state legislatures, regulatory agencies, or the courts, NCPA advocates for you on issues ranging from PBM abuses to your ability to practice to the full extent of your training.
Not sure how our advocacy efforts affect your pharmacy practice?
Advocacy Highlights
NCPA Priority Legislation
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H.R. 1613/S. 1038, the Drug Price Transparency in Medicaid Act 1-pager
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H.R. 2880, the Protecting Patients Against PBM Abuses Act 1-pager
Resources
Advocacy Webinar Archive
Previous recordings are available here.
More information and resources on current federal and state issues and legislation, as well as on the engines that fuel our success can be found below:
Federal Priorities
DIR Fees
An overwhelming majority of independent community pharmacy owners say that retroactive pharmacy direct and indirect remuneration fees undermine patient access to prescription drugs and hinder owners’ ability to manage their businesses.
Medicare
Community pharmacies provide cost-saving medication and pharmacy services to millions of Medicare Part B and D patients.
Regulatory Advocacy
NCPA follows regulatory affairs closely and provides comments whenever possible on behalf of its members.
Inflation Reduction Act: Resources and Advocacy
For pharmacies, reimbursement could be impacted under the new Medicare price negotiation framework, as any difference between the negotiated price and discounted price for a drug would be “trued-up” within prompt pay requirements.
LTC At Home
Ensuring pharmacies providing long term care patients residing at home are reimbursed at a rate which matches the higher level of care afforded to these patients. Appropriate payment for medical at home services is the number one advocacy priority of the NCPA LTC Division.
Compounding
Key policies and advocacy
TRICARE
Recently, Express Scripts, the Cigna-owned pharmacy benefit manager that administers the TRICARE benefit on behalf of the Department of Defense, instituted pharmacy network changes that impact 400,000 TRICARE beneficiaries by shrinking the retail network by almost 15,000 pharmacies. To add insult to injury, Cigna/Express Scripts unilaterally decided to terminate the 2022 contracts on October 24, 2022, rather than the end of the year. This will cause major patient disruption.
State Priorities
Resources and Information
Central location of documents, including 1-pagers, model legislative language, recent state legislative wins, and other information to further advance pro-patient and pro-pharmacy advocacy efforts in the states.
Is Your State Enforcing PBM Regulations?
Virtually every single state has passed some form of PBM regulations over the last several years. Although there have been great strides forward with comprehensive state PBM regulations and court victories, this is all irrelevant if the state departments of insurance are not enforcing these laws.
State-Specific Community Pharmacy Impact Fact Sheets
These fact sheets report the economic impact of independent pharmacy by state for the 2019 tax year. In presentations to policymakers, employers, and other groups, you'll find them useful in demonstrating the profound economic benefit of community pharmacy to your state's economy.
Medicaid managed care pharmacy payment reforms
State audits and studies are showing that Medicaid drug costs are increasing, and pharmacy reimbursements are decreasing. Something isn’t adding up. NCPA supports efforts to increase transparency and accountability and to ensure state oversight of Medicaid managed care programs.
Comprehensive PBM regulation
Over time, PBMs have been allowed to operate virtually unchecked. A lack of transparency in PBM practices is increasingly leading states — with NCPA’s support — to implement licensure/registration, fair pharmacy audit, or generic drug pricing legislation to try to level the playing field for pharmacies and patients.
Scope of practice and compensation for patient services
Community pharmacists are both medication experts and America’s most accessible health care providers. NCPA is committed to working with our members and state partners to remove the barriers preventing pharmacists from practicing to the top of their license and being compensated for patient care services.
State Legislative Tracking
Click on the states to learn what community pharmacy-priority bills are active in legislatures throughout the country.
NCPA PAC
Legal Defense Fund
Grassroots Toolkit
Legislative Action Center
Act Today
Truth Campaign
Now more than ever, Americans need access to essential healthcare providers. That includes access to affordable prescription drugs from pharmacists they know and trust.