COVER STORY
their families, survivors and certain former spouses. Thousands of pharmacies were excluded from the network because of the extraordinarily low reimbursements that were offered by Express Scripts, which is administering the pharmacy program for the Department of Defense, Cassity said. “There’s been a lot of interest in this in Congress, and some concerns,” she said. “We’re hoping potentially for some oversight hearings.” The incoming chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), has been very vocal about the contract, Cassity said. “That’s not a bad person to have on your side when you’re addressing this issue.” She also said the industry also has other pharmacy champions who have assumed more important roles in the House, including Cathy McMorris Rodgers, the new chair of the Energy and Commerce Committee. “She’s been a huge proponent of pharmacies, and not just pharmacies, but patient access to pharmacies,” said Cassity. In addition, Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) is the new chairman of the House Oversight Committee, who Cassity said has been “really engaged” in pharmacy issues. As the ranking member last year, he held a roundtable to discuss PBM reforms, she said. Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) has also been a leading advocate for retail pharmacy, she said. In January of this year, he praised CMS for outlining the timeline and mechanisms for Medicare drug price negotiation policies. “I think we’re teed up pretty well,” said Cassity. “It just depends on what Congress decides to do [in 2023] and what they can get done.”
Consumers Support PREP Act Extension Nearly two thirds of Americans — 64% — support keeping the additional pharmacy services allowed by the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (PREP Act) in place, according to a December poll by Morning Consult commissioned by NACDS. Among seniors, that figure rises to 77%, and the agreement spans political ideologies, said Chris Krese, senior VP of congressional relations and communications, NACDS. “Americans have gotten used to the access that they rely on at their pharmacies, and they want it to stay,” he said. NACDS is calling for the PREP Act to be extended through October 2024, which would allow more states to replicate it, Krese said.
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Extension of the PREP Act Another key focus of NACDS in the year ahead is to push for the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (PREP Act) to be extended for pharmacy services. The PREP Act allows pharmacy technicians and interns to administer certain vaccines. Krese said NACDS is pushing for the Pres. Biden administration to extend these pharmacy services until October of 2024. “This is really important, because we are hearing more and more about the imminence of the public health emergency ending, and the move to commercialization for vaccines, and testing, and antivirals,” he said. “When those two things happen — the end of the public health emergency and the commercialization of these countermeasures — the PREP Act is going to end for pharmacy services. That’s going to impact patients, and it’s going to impact pharmacies.” For example, the PREP Act allows pharmacy technicians to provide flu vaccinations to adults. which most states otherwise do not allow. If pharmacy technicians are no longer allowed to give flu shots to adults that would be the equivalent of removing about 40% of the nation’s vaccination capacity, Krese said. That will result in longer lines and longer wait times for patients seeking vaccines, and potentially the loss of access to vaccines for some patients in some locations. “Plus, it’s just very difficult to plan a pharmacy workforce when you don’t know a few months down the road what certain professionals in your pharmacies are going to be able to do or not do,” said Krese. NACDS would like to see states replicate the PREP Act at the state level during the extended time that the PREP Act remains in effect, he said. The recent confluence of flu, COVID and another virus, RSV, reinforce the need for these expanded services, Krese said. “I think a lot of policy makers unfortunately forget that you can’t just turn these services on and off.” In addition, NACDS is also advocating for legislation at the federal level that would set up a reliable payment mechanism in Medicare for pandemic-related services. “We had tremendous success in 2021 and 2022 in building support for this legislation,” said Krese. “What we need to do in this next Congress is get this over the goal line so we can make it a reality.” dsn
February 2023 DRUGSTORENEWS.COM
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