NCPA launches public education campaign on threat of PBMs
By HME News Staff
Updated 10:05 AM CST, Thu February 11, 2021
ALEXANDRIA, Va. – The National Community Pharmacists Association is partnering with state pharmacy associations to educate the public, patients and policymakers on the largely unknown role played by pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, in raising drug costs, restricting patient access, and squashing local pharmacies, ultimately limiting consumer choices. “Access to pharmacies – essential businesses and health care providers – has never been more important than during this last year,” said NCPA CEO B. Douglas Hoey, pharmacist, MBA. “As much of the world was turned upside down by the coronavirus pandemic, pharmacies remained open. Meanwhile, these essential pharmacies’ very existence is threatened by PBMs, which engage in profiteering and patient steering to ultimately force pharmacies into a loss and out of business.” The campaign will also promote the value of community pharmacies. In January, NCPA filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services over direct and indirect remuneration fees that it says are driving small business neighborhood pharmacies out of business.
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