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WASHINGTON — Retail pharmacy’s drive to secure enactment of meaningful PBM reform received a boost earlier this month when the leaders of the Senate Finance Committee spoke at a press briefing on Capitol Hill during NACDS RxImpact Day. Sens. Ron Wyden (D., Ore.) and Mike Crapo (R., Ind.), the chairman and ranking member of the committee, respectively, called on their colleagues to enact legislation to rein in manipulative business practices by pharmacy benefits managers. The senators urged their colleagues to pass the PBM bill adopted by the committee on a unanimous vote.
“Certain pharmacy benefit manager practices continue to jeopardize the viability and financial stability of pharmacies, forcing far too many to close up shop,” Crapo said. “Congress must pass our comprehensive, bipartisan legislation to reduce out-of-pocket medication costs for seniors, enhance federal oversight and shore up patients’ access to the pharmacy of their choice.”
Wyden was, if anything, even more vehement in his remarks: “The time for PBM reform was yesterday. It’s past time to crack down on the shady practices of these pharma middlemen that result in higher drug prices for consumers, and threaten pharmacies across Oregon and nationwide. I’ll be working around the clock to get this done.”
Sponsored annually by the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, RxImpact Day brings hundreds of pharmacists and other industry leaders to Washington to meet with members of Congress and their staff to discuss issues that impact retail pharmacy’s ability to deliver quality patient care and, at the same time, remain financially viable.
Following remarks by Wyden and Crapo, the group heard from Jack Holt, president of Hi-School Pharmacy, and Michelle Belcher, who operates Grants Pass Pharmacy in Grants Pass, Ore., as well as NACDS president and chief executive officer Steve Anderson and Doug Hoey, his counterpart as the National Community Pharmacists Association.
“PBM profits are soaring while they make patients pay more for their medicine and make it impossible for pharmacies of any size to stay open,” Anderson said. “It’s time for Congress to pass real PBM reform, particularly for Americans in Medicare and Medicaid. Patients and the pharmacies that serve them can no longer wait. It’s time to get this done.”
