NCAP Legislative Update June 2020

North Carolina Association of Pharmacists Advancing Pharmacy. Improving Health.

Legislative and Policy Update June 15, 2020 Advocacy Days Set! Mark Your Calendars Week of July 20-24 Yes, that’s corrrect. Advocacy Days. We have scheduled a series of virtual advocacy days the week of July 20th. We decided on a virtual format and on multiple days for the following reasons: 

This General Assembly session is different. Many members are calling in and voting by proxy so are not present in the building on a regular basis. So, we cant count on members being present for in-person

meetings. 

There have not been any groups coming to visit members. A few lobbyists are in the building and staff and members, but no advocacy groups. The “culture” at the government complex does not seem to support these kinds of visits right now. Further, social distancing and limits on the number of people in the building at any one time make a group visit problemmatic.

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We want to be cautious. With the number of cases of COVID-19 in our State rising, it just does not seem prudent to ask our members to take the additional risks involved in coming to Raleigh and having in-person group meetings.

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A virtual advocacy effort makes it possible to have meetings over a number of days. This will allow us to engage more policy makers and hopefully allow more NCAP members to participate.

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.

Your lobbyist is in the process of arranging Zoom meetings with members of the General Assembly. We are hoping to meet with 10 House and 10 Senate members. We will target key committee members as well as others who represent our members.

I expect to have these meetings scheduled by June 25th. We will then post a list containing the members and the date and the time of the Zoom meetings. At that point, we will be asking members to sign onto one or more of the meetings, either with your own legislator or another key policy maker.

General Assembly members will get materials on our agenda items prior to the meetings and NCAP members will have those as well as talking points to use.

We will be updateing you frequently between now and the week of the 20 th of July on plans as they develop so please make sure to look out for messages from NCAP leadership and to these updates.

Whats Been Happening at the General Assembly Pharmacy Benefits Manger Legislation: Senate 432 “Birth Center and Pharmacy Benefits Manager” We hear conflicting things about this bill from policy makers. On the one hand, we are told that the bill will not get through this session because Senate conferees refuse to adopt the House version of the bill which contains provisions we need and want. On another hand, we hear that negotiations are ongoing “behind the scenes,” that there is a desire to pass a bill that will offer pharmacists some relief from PBM practices.

We wish we had something more definitive to report, but policy makers are keeping this pretty much under wraps.

We want to stress once again how great it was to see NCAP members responding to the alert we put out three weeks ago. That was a very encouraging sign of your involvement and members did get your message loud and clear.

Collaborative Practice Legislation There will be no collaborative practice legislation this session. It is an uphill battle to get new legslation introduced in a “short” session and leadership is exercising strict controls on what they are allowing to be discussed.

We are working with the Medical Society to come up with language that both we and they can accept.

Medical Society opposition has heretofore been the main stumbling block. But be assured: the NCAP will be bringing Collaborative Practice Legislation during the 2021 session with our without anyone else’s approval.

NCAP Successfully Fights Legislation.

Last week, legislation that would have changed elements of the STOP ACT passed in 2017 was discussed. As you may recall, the STOP ACT (Stop Opioid Misuse Prevention)was aimed at curtailing opoid addiction. We got wind of it and after examining the proposal decided we could not support the idea. We opposed opening up that hard-fought legislation in ways that would, we felt, limit the

professional prerogatives of Doctors and Pharmacists. We were joined in our position by other groups and the sponsor of the change dropped the proposal.

Ongoing Monitoring Continued monitoring of legislative activity is very important to the NCAP. Our legislative process often operates without due transparency and the ability to influence legislative outcomes. So, things can pop up at any minute that are not in the interest of Pharmacy. We continue to watch every piece of legislation to ensure that nothing untoward occurrs.

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.