Tag: National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA)
Arkansas passes bill to prohibit PBM ownership of pharmacies
April 17, 2025HME News Staff
ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders on April 16 signed into law, HB 1150, legislation that prohibits state permits to pharmacies owned by pharmacy benefit managers effective Jan. 1, 2026. The Arkansas Pharmacists Association worked to advance the bill. “Today is a new day in Arkansas for our patients as the fox will no longer guard the henhouse,” said John Vinson, APA’s CEO. “This bipartisan legislation passed overwhelmingly to protect public health...
Senators move to protect indie pharmacies
March 13, 2025HME News Staff
WASHINGTON – Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., along with Sens. Roger Marshal, R-Kan., Mark Warner, D-Va., and Bill Cassidy, R-La., has introduced legislation to limit what they say are abusive pricing practices by pharmacy benefit managers.
The “Protecting Pharmacies in Medicaid Act” cracks down on what they call “spread pricing” - charging Medicaid more than PBMs charge pharmacies for a drug, driving up costs for Medicaid and short-changing pharmacies. The legislation...
Indie pharmacy hosts FTC chair
March 10, 2025HME News Staff
REMINGTON, Va. – Al Roberts and Travis Hale, the owners of Remington Drug Company in Remington, Va., hosted Andrew Ferguson, chair of the Federal Trade Commission, to illustrate the challenges posed by pharmacy benefit managers and emphasize the significant role independent pharmacies play in their communities.
Also present: B. Douglas Hoey, pharmacist, CEO of the National Community Pharmacists Association; Matthew Seiler, general counsel for NCPA; and Anne Cassity, senior vice president...
Former NCPA president urges action on PBM reform
February 27, 2025HME News Staff
WASHINGTON - Hugh Chancy, former president of the National Community Pharmacists Association and a co-owner of Chancy Drugs in Georgia, urged members of Congress to take immediate action and pass common-sense pharmacy benefit manager reforms during a recent House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health hearing that examined PBM reform policies. Emphasizing the important role of pharmacies like his in providing essential health care services to patients, he said this work is jeopardized by the...
Kennedy confirmed as health secretary
February 13, 2025HME News Staff
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Senate has confirmed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the next secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in a largely party-line vote of 52-48.
Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., was the lone Republican to vote no.
Kennedy will replace Acting Secretary Dorothy Fink in overseeing the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and CMS.
While Kennedy made a name for himself during the election for his focus...
In brief: Inogen accelerates, C.R. Bard settles, NCPA warns
January 29, 2025HME News Staff
GOLETA, Calif. – Inogen has entered a strategic collaboration with Jiangsu Yutue Medical Equipment & Supply Co. (Yuwell) to broaden its product portfolio through distribution of certain respiratory products in the United States, expand and enhance its innovation pipeline through joint R&D efforts and accelerate its entry into the Chinese market.
As part of the collab, Yuwell, which generated more than $1 billion in revenue in 2023, has also agreed to invest about $27.2 million into...
NCPA warns CMS about drug program
January 28, 2025HME News Staff
ALEXANDRIA, Va. – The National Community Pharmacists Association has submitted comments to CMS warning that more than 90% of independent pharmacies may decide, or have already decided, not to stock drugs in the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program due to financial losses that will potentially put them out of business. “Pharmacies will have to float thousands of dollars every month waiting for refunds from the manufacturers,” said NCPA CEO B. Douglas Hoey. “That will cause...
NCPA joins price-fixing lawsuit
January 27, 2025HME News Staff
ALEXANDRIA, Va. – The National Community Pharmacists Association has joined a class action lawsuit against GoodRx, as well as CVS Caremark, Express Scripts, MedImpact Healthcare Systems and Navitus Health Solutions, that accuses them of colluding in a scheme to fix reimbursement rates to independent pharmacies. The lawsuit, brought by Community Care Rx, an independent pharmacy in Michigan, alleges that GoodRx and several PBMs are violating federal antitrust law by sharing competitively sensitive...
Pharmacy groups launch public health consortium
January 16, 2025HME News Staff
ALEXANDRIA, Va. – The National Community Pharmacists Association’s Innovation Center has formed the Independent Community Pharmacy Consortium for Government Engagement, bringing together pharmacy services administrative organizations, wholesale distributors and pharmacy management system vendors to streamline the engagement of community pharmacies in public health initiatives.
The NCPA says the consortium will facilitate swift and efficient cooperation between public health...
FTC scrutinizes PBM markups
January 15, 2025HME News Staff
WASHINGTON – The Federal Trade Commission has published a report that found pharmacy benefit managers Caremark Rx LLC (CVS), Express Scripts and OptumRx marked up numerous specialty generic drugs by hundreds or thousands of percent.
The report, the second produced by the FTC, focused on PBMs influence over specialty generic drugs, including significant price markups by PBMs for cancer, HIV and a variety of other critical drugs.
“The FTC staff’s second interim...