NCPA to CMS: Raise dispensing fees on antiviral meds
By HME News Staff
Updated 11:21 AM CST, Thu January 20, 2022
ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Community pharmacies are losing money dispensing new oral antiviral medicines based on the low fees paid by health insurance companies, writes the National Community Pharmacists Association in a letter to CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure. “NCPA asks for immediate intervention before these pharmacies are forced to stop dispensing the oral antiviral drugs because they can’t justify the cost to their business,” wrote B. Douglas Hoey, CEO of NCPA. Pharmacies are receiving anywhere from $10.50 to $1 to dispense the meds, when even $10.50 is far below their costs, according to the NCPA. There are also additional steps involved in dispensing these meds, Hoey says. “The pharmacies in the first distribution cycle estimate the additional time involved with dispensing the oral antivirals requires a dispensing fee consistent with the COVID‐19 vaccine administration fee of $40,” he wrote. “This reflects additional steps such as the non-standard ordering and receiving of the physical product, on-boarding new patients, and participating in the prescriber decision making process (working with prescribers to prioritize limited available doses, accurate data on e-prescriptions, transitioning patients from monoclonal antibodies to oral therapy).”
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