NCPA Fly-In Amplifies Pharmacists' Voice on Capitol Hill: Advocacy, Access, and the Fight for Fair Reimbursement

Each year, the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) hosts its Annual Congressional Fly-In, bringing together pharmacy owners, managers, students, and advocates from across the country to meet with legislators and champion the future of community pharmacy. In this interview, NCPA President Jeff Harrell, PharmD, shares insights from this year’s event, highlighting its growing impact, the importance of engaging with policymakers, and the urgent issues facing independent pharmacies—chief among them, reimbursement reform and addressing the influence of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs). Harrell also offers encouragement to pharmacists considering attending and emphasizes the lasting value of political involvement at both the national and local levels.

Pharmacy Times: Can you give a brief overview of what the NCPA Annual Congressional Fly-in is?

Jeff Harrell, PharmD: Basically, it is pharmacists, pharmacy owners, you know, managers, whatever, [who] fly into DC—or Alexandria is where we kind of start—and then we head up to the Hill, and we meet and kind of lobby for our industry, you know, what our pain points are. We have meetings prior to us going up to the Hill for our meetings with our legislators. And we kind of talk about the state of affairs of pharmacy and what our missions and goals are. We are trying to get the message across to our legislators in hopes that we can get some legislation passed to improve pharmacy reimbursement and turn the tide on the PBMs.

Pharmacy Times: What is the value of this event? What sorts of impacts have you seen as a result of this annual event?

Harrell: Well, this was the largest I think we've had. The room was packed, and it was fantastic to see. I mean, I think those that [can] come every year because they see the impact and the relationships that they are building with not only the legislators themselves but also the staffers. Because oftentimes the staffers are the face and the gatekeeper, so to speak. But the newcomers—and we did have some students there this year, which is great, and we brought from our group some of our students and residents and stuff—and it basically just kind of opens their eyes to that side of pharmacy that oftentimes gets overlooked. And I'll be the first to admit early in my career, politics didn't excite me, you know, but one of my mentors basically told me, “Get into politics or get out of pharmacy.” And so, I think that the newcomers coming got to get a good sense of the importance of lobbying. The results aren't often fast, but it's a necessity to make sure that we stay relevant.

Pharmacy Times: What were attendees focused on at this year’s fly-in?

Harrell: Yeah. I mean, NCPA has their agenda of their bills, and of course, I don't have them in front of me to give you the exact bill number. I know they changed a little bit because we weren't able to get it passed in December or in the spring, but the agenda is the same, you know, to get fair and equitable or reasonable and relevant paying contracts, patient access, and minimum dispensing fees. In the managed Medicaid space, you know everything around what we're doing and the quality of pay that we should receive for the quality of service that we're giving, and specifically in today's landscape. And so, there's some policy stuff mixed in there with audits and different things like that, but it was mostly based around that fair and equitable, or I think the terminology is reasonable and relevant, which is what we're looking for.

Pharmacy Times: For pharmacists who aren’t able to attend the fly-in, can you discuss the value of staying in touch with policymakers in other ways?

Harrell: Absolutely, that's a fantastic point because, you know, those that can't make it, it might be too expensive, or it's just scheduling issues. All of those legislators go back home. A lot of them were on the same flight I was Thursday night [May 1, 2025] when they closed it down to Washington and Oregon to their respective states. So hit them at home. Meet them in their backyard, set up appointments with their staffers or their leads, and set up appointments with them. So, you know, you can do your work in your home state, in your backyard, or in those legislators’ offices in their respective states. So, it's super important to continue that and do that and make those relationships and have them in your pharmacies and show them your reimbursement issues and your pain points, so when they do go back, they're more educated and they're more aware. And so, when a bill is introduced, they're not foreign to the vocabulary. I mean, I think of PBM and how to define that; years ago, we had trouble getting that message across, or the staffer would change, and they wouldn't know what a PBM is. Now, you know, a PBM is a 3-letter word that's very well known. Why? It's well known there is a problem, a big problem, and so all of that work at home helps educate those policymakers and legislators so when they do go back, they can help those that don't understand, and so we don't have to reeducate them up on the hill.

Pharmacy Times: What would you say to those who’ve considered attending the fly-in but haven’t?

Harrell: I encourage you to go. I mean, often we go every year, you know, maybe send someone if you can't go. Every year, send someone else from your team. It's just a great experience. I mean, not only do you get to the nation's capital and get to see just all of those landmark historical things, but you get to meet people, pharmacists, staff, whatever, and create that networking, because that's super important to our political networking, our agenda, and our purpose for putting legislation forward. So, I think [you should] get up there, get out there, experience, and network.

Pharmacy Times: Is there anything you’d like to add?

Harrell: Absolutely. I think that's really good. I think you can definitely also look to support the PAC, you know, with donations and different things, because… NCPA uses those funds to help drive our legislative bills and different things forward. It also helps offset costs for grading the bills and all the different things you’ve got to do to package them up pretty so that they're appealing to either get into a package or appealing to the legislator to stamp their name on it or sign onto it. So that's important, and just get involved, you know, as much as possible right now. I mean, I see a bright future for us, but I think that we all have to keep continuing to fight the fight and do that in unity, and I think that we'll see some good results here in the future.