July Legislative Update

North Carolina Association of Pharmacists Advancing Pharmacy. Improving Health.

Legislative and Policy Update July 1, 2020 Advocacy Days Preparations Proceeding Apace!

July 20 – 24 Preparations for NCAP’s biggest advocacy effort yet are on track.

Our advocacy meetings will play an important role leading up to the 2021 General Assembly session. We will use them to educate and inform policy makers about our issues and give them advanced notice about the legislation the NCAP would like to see introduced. Here are more specifics: We have Zoom advocacy meetings scheduled with the following members of the General Assembly.

More are in process. Scheduled meetings are as follows: Rep. Farmer Butterfield July 21 2:00, Rep Howard July 2, 11:00, Rep. Adcock July 24 11:00, Rep. Holley July 21 1:00, Rep. Insko July 20 10:00, Rep. Ross July 21 10:00, Senator Krawiec July 20 2:00, Sen. Perry July 23 3:00, Rep. Meyer July 21 9:00, Rep. Hurley July 20th at 1, Rep. Carney July 22 at 10 Senator Davis July 20 at 12, Senator Chaudhuri July 23 at 3 This is a great list of members, many of whom are chairs of important committees that need to understand our issues and whom we need to have a relationship with. These policy makers will get pharmacy related materials prior to the meetings and NCAP members will have talking points to make use of as well.

This response tells us that policy makers care about pharmacy and, even more importantly, they recognize the growing power and influence of the NCAP! With this kind of response from policy makers we need to be sure to have a good one from members.

Please email either myself or Cheryl Viracola at Cheryl@ncparmacists.org to let us know of your participation and if you have a preference as to the Zoom meeting or meetings you would like to participate in. We will match you up with the meeting or meetings of your choice.

We are planning on having a preparatory meeting via Zoom on Friday evening the 17 th at 7. You can ask questions and we will talk about how the meetings will unfold, points we want to be sure to make and other details. You will receive two Zoom invites. One for the preparatory session and another for the Zoom advocacy meeting you have signed up for.

Thanks for your work and commitment to this important effort.

Update from the General Assembly The week of June 21st was a very busy one and it saw legislators adjourn until later in the summer. Your lobbyist, working with representatives of other pharmacy organizations worked until the last minute to try and get the “Pharmacy Benefits Manager” legislation over the finish line. Unfortunately we were not successful.

Senate 432 “Birth Center and Pharmacy Benefits Manager” ended up being held “hostage” to legislative politics. Policy makers added a provision known as “Exclusive Benefits Providers” (EPO) to our bill. We are all familiar with this concept through our health plans. As a member of a plan, a person pays less for using a provider within a network than going out of network. This is known as an EPO. The provision added to our bill did not directly affect pharmacy, but was asked for by one of the major Health Care PPO’s. The provision was favored in the Senate but not in the House.

The good news is that there was significant support in BOTH the House and Senate to pass the Pharmacy Benefits Manager legislation. Unfortuneately, that is why the EPO was added to our bill.

Those wanting the EPO figured that they could use the PBM language as “leverage” to get the other body to pass it. House and Senate negotiators were not able to come to an agreement on that issue and we were not able to separate the Pharmacy Benefits Manager Provision from the EPO language and run it as a separate bill.

Your NCAP representatives worked very hard to get Pharmacy Benefits Manager legislation over the finish line. We will come back next session with a different approach to getting this accomplished… one that make it more difficult for our legislation to fall prey to inter-house politics.

In the mean time, there is something very important that we need to do. Please take a moment to write or call the following individuals and thank them for their efforts on our behalf this session. They worked very hard to get the PBM legislation over the finish line and really dug their heels in for us when discussions went behind closed doors. They are: Representative Wayne Sasser wayne.sasser@ncleg.net 919-733-5908 Senator Jim Perry jim.perry@ncleg.net 919-733-5621

Collaborative Practice Legislation As noted in earlier updates, there was no Collaborative Practice Legislation passed this session either.

Be assured: the NCAP will be bringing Collaborative Practice Legislation during the 2021 session with a new strategy for passage and we expcect a much different outcome next time around.

NCAP Successfully Fights Legislation.

Your NCAP representatives were able to prevent legislation that did not support the NCAP’s vision and mission from being enacted. We were successful in preventing changes to the STOP act that we disagreed with and were active in monitoring to ensure that no legislation opposed to the interests of parmacists was brought forward.

Planning for the 2021 Legislative Session.

We want to thank you for responding to our call for input on the NCAP 2021 legislative agenda. We have heard from a number of our members who have had some interesting and thought provoking things to say. We will continue to gather your input and the Advocacy Committee will be assessing it on an ongoing basis.

Members have spoken to us about “pay parity” for pharmacists, age discrimmination, expanding collaborative practice agreements, layoffs and furloughs due to the COVID-19 pandemic, PBM practices, DIR fees, expanding the ability of pharmacists to administer tests and innoculations, other COVID-19 related issues, substitutions within a drug class and other matters.

We will have a full discussion of the process we use to finalize the NCAP agenda and a discussion with members about the agenda at our annual conference. Once the agenda is set, we begin the process of finding sponsors, educating policy makers and building support with affiliated groups. Legislative success begins early and you play an important role in it! Getting involved by reaching out to your legislators and letting them know to support the NCAP agenda is crucial to our collective success.

Important: Supporting Those Who Support Pharmacy Our recent experience with the PBM legislation reinforces the need for Pharmacy to play a more prominent role in both supporting legislators who support the profession as well as recruiting pharmacists to run for office. It’s a space we just have to be in and NCAP is going to work to increase our capacity in both areas.

NCAP is making plans to grow our fundraising in support of legislators who have stood up for pharmacy.

We are planning a series of regional “meet and greet” fundraisers where you can meet key legislators, tell them how important their support of pharmacy and the NCAP agenda is and make a contribution to those who have “walked the walk” for us. Contributions are especially appreciated and noted during election years, so please consider contributing to support a deserving legislator. Keep an eye open for dates, times, and venues.

You don’t need to wait for one of our events to contribute. You can do your part by contributing to the NCAP advocacy fund at https://secure001.membershipsoftware.org/NCAPsecure/donation_pay.asp Your contribution supports the work of your lobbyist and other in-house advocacy efforts at NCAP NCAP is also joining in a collaborative effort with other pharmacists to raise advocacy funds and pool them to have greater impact. Your contribution to that effort is also greatly appreciated. You can support this effort by mailing a contribution to: PILL PAC: 209 Fayetteville Street: Raleigh, NC 27601 No amount is too small and every dollar counts.

We cannot emphasize strongly enough the importance of your voice and engagement as part of our efforts. Please take time to learn what you can do to ensure that policy makers hear your concerns and act to support your work.

We want to hear your thoughts on how we can be successful. Never hesitate to contact us with concerns, insights, or information that can be of use and which can enhance our efforts.

Always feel free to contact me directly. My email is Solarigovernmentsolutions@gmail.com and my phone number is 919-744-8803. As your lobbyist I am happy to answer any questions you have about my work and I am ready to assist you in any way possible.