Tag: DIR fees

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Constant efforts by independent pharmacy stakeholders have unleashed a “tidal wave” of activity to reform pharmacy benefit managers, says Matthew Seiler, general counsel for the National Community Pharmacists Association.  In June, the Federal Trade Commission announced it would initiate a formal study of PBM behavior and the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation voted to advance the Pharmacy Benefit Manager Transparency Act introduced...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has granted a stay in a federal case that challenges the legality of pharmacy direct and indirect remuneration fees.  “We are pleased by the court’s decision to grant our request for a stay, or a pause in the litigation, until the recently proposed rule potentially addressing retroactive pharmacy DIR fees is finalized,” the National Community Pharmacists Association and the American Pharmacists...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – The National Community Pharmacists Association is going live in the Washington, D.C., media market with a seven-figure television ad buy urging senators to finalize language to reform PBM direct and indirect remuneration fees in Medicare Part D. CMS has disclosed that PBMs increased these retroactive fees on pharmacies by 91,500% from 2010-19. “PBMs are gaming the system at the expense of patient access and local pharmacies, and they won’t stop until they’re...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – B. Douglas Hoey, CEO of the National Community Pharmacists Association, came away from a recent roundtable discussion with Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra feeling “positive.”  “It’s my opinion that the secretary will be receptive to expanding (access) to health care and utilizing pharmacies to do that,” he said.  Hoey spoke with HME News recently about the meeting and where he thinks Becerra may stand on certain...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – After failing to get relief on direct and indirect remuneration fees through legislative and regulatory pathways, the National Community Pharmacists Association says it was left no choice but to file a lawsuit to stop what it says is an “existential threat” to independent pharmacies.  The lawsuit, filed in January against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, states that the fees are without reasonable transparency,...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – The National Community Pharmacists Association has filed a federal 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. The lawsuit alleges that the fees are without reasonable transparency, and they conceal from patients and taxpayers the true cost of prescription drugs. “Pharmacy clawbacks are fundamentally dishonest...