Joint Letter Follows Federal Court Ruling Last Week on AWP
The National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS), National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA), and National Alliance of State Pharmacy Associations (NASPA) have hand delivered a joint letter to the office of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, seeking her intervention to avoid major Medicaid cuts that threaten patient access to pharmacies. The sense of urgency arises from a federal court ruling last week approving the First DataBank/Medi-Span Settlements regarding the pharmacy reimbursement rates under the Average Wholesale Price (AWP) benchmark for most single source and multiple source drugs. This process will start on September 26 and the Medicaid cuts are conservatively estimated at more than $350 million* each year.
“We strongly urge you to please act now to instruct states to modify their Medicaid pharmacy reimbursement rates such that access to pharmacy services can be maintained,” the letter states. If states do not adjust their payment rates, “reimbursement will be artificially reduced by about 4% below the states’ best estimate of pharmacies’ actual acquisition costs.”
*Subsequent research indicates that the loss to pharmacy could be more than $550 million annually
A copy of the letter follows:
http://www.ncpanet.org/pdf/cmsletteronfdb.pdf
The National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) represents 154 traditional drug stores, supermarkets, and mass merchants with pharmacies - from regional chains with four stores to national companies. NACDS members also include more than 900 pharmacy and front-end suppliers, and over 70 international members from 24 countries. Chains operate 37,000 pharmacies, and employ more than 2.5 million employees, including 118,000 full-time pharmacists. They fill more than 2.5 billion prescriptions annually, which is more than 72 percent of annual prescriptions in the United States. The total economic impact of all retail stores with pharmacies transcends their $815 billion in annual sales. Every $1 spent in these stores creates a ripple effect of $3.82 in other industries, for a total economic impact of $3.11 trillion, equal to 26 percent of GDP. For more information about NACDS, visit www.NACDS.org.
The National Community Pharmacists Association, founded in 1898, represents the nation’s community pharmacists, including the owners of more than 23,000 pharmacies. The nation’s independent pharmacies, independent pharmacy franchises, and independent chains dispense nearly half of the nation's retail prescription medicines. To learn more go to www.ncpanet.org.
The National Alliance of State Pharmacy Associations (NASPA) promotes leadership, sharing, learning, and policy exchange among state pharmacy associations and pharmacy leaders nationwide, and provides education and advocacy to support pharmacists, patients, and communities working together to improve public health.NASPA was founded in 1927 as the National Council of State Pharmacy Association Executives (NCSPAE).
Contacts:
NACDS
Chrissy Kopple, 703-837-4266
or
NCPA
Kevin
Schweers, 703-838-2682
or
NASPA
Rebecca Snead,
804-285-4431
