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Are your health care choices being made by pharmaceuutical middlemen and mail order pharmacies? Protect access to prescription medications from local pharmacies. Contact your Members of the U.S. House of Representatives TODAY!
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Pharmacists play a vital role in patient’s lives every day. We want to hear your stories about the impact your local pharmacy has had on your health and your community.
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The latest edition of the Fight4Rx Newsletter, is available for download.
Issue Spotlight
Mega Pharmaceutical Merger Threatens Patient Choice
In July, Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBMs) giants Express Scripts and Medco announced they would merge. This transaction is currently being pending approval by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). If approved, this merger would lead to reduced consumer choices in pharmacy, higher premiums for plan sponsors and consumers and reduced access to community pharmacies for plan beneficiaries.
Large national employers, unions and government sponsored health plans are already limited in their PBM choices. The merged entity will be able to dictate benefit structures and shift patients to favor their in-house mail operations—depriving consumers of access to their local pharmacy, which provides vital healthcare services.
Fight4RX opposes this anticompetitive merger on the grounds that it harms consumers and deprives them of choice. Please click here to send a letter to your member of Congress asking them to oppose this proposed merger and here for a sample letter that can be printed and sent to the Federal Trade Commission. Click here to read more.
Pharmacy Competition and Consumer Choice Act of 2011
H.R. 1971, introduced by Representative Cathy McMorris-Rogers (R-WA) and its Senate companion S. 1058, introduced by Senators Mark Pryor (D-AR) and Jerry Moran (R-KS) are bills targeted to address abuses by pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs). Included in this legislation are key elements important to preserving patient choice, including a provision that allows any pharmacy willing to accept a health plans terms and conditions to participate in a health network so long as that pharmacy is eligible to participate in federal or state plans. This provision will increase patient choice and access by allowing more pharmacies to be included in health networks.
The legislation also provides protections for patient data and forbids PBMs from using personal information to direct you, the patient, to a pharmacy in which they have an ownership interest without the consent of the health plan and the patient.
Please click here to send a letter to your member of Congress asking them to support these pro-patient reforms.
The Medicare Access to Diabetes Supply Act
Congressmen Aaron Schock (R-IL) and Peter Welch (D-VT) have moved to preserve Medicare patient access to diabetic testing supplies at community pharmacies. H.R.1936, the Medicare Access to Diabetes Supplies Act, would help ensure that seniors can continue to obtain their diabetic testing supplies from the pharmacy of their choice and preserve their access to face-to-face consultations with their pharmacist. These consultations help ensure accurate interpretations of test results and limit the severe negative outcomes that accompany these misinterpretations such as unnecessary visits to the emergency room or worse. Please let your member of Congress know you support H.R. 1936
Please click here to send a letter to your Member of Congress and express your support for this legislation.
More information on issues impacting patient access is available here.
About Fight4Rx
Fight4Rx is a non-partisan grassroots effort of the National Community Pharmacists Association aimed at educating patients about the value of their local community pharmacy.
Pharmacists play a role every day in the lives of patients by improving health care while reducing costs. With health care issues taking center stage in Washington, DC, it is vital that patients remain engaged in protecting their access to safe and affordable medicine. Fight4Rx provides you with the tools you need to learn about the changing health care market, and how your community pharmacy plays a key role.
The J.D. Power and Associates 2010 National Pharmacy Study found that independent community pharmacies consistently garnered among the highest customer satisfaction scores, surpassing national, publicly traded pharmacy chains and the most common, volume-driven mail order pharmacies.
Dr. Oz: Talk to Your Local Pharmacist
The Dr. Oz Show's recent segment "Dangerous Drug Mistakes" suggests patients talk to their local pharmacists—an untapped resource—before mixing medicines.
Consumer Poll
How often do you consult with a pharmacist on your health care?
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