NCPA Urges House Committee to Support Three Medicare-Strengthening Bills

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (July 20, 2017) In a letter this week, the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) encouraged the House Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Health to consider three bills that will achieve their stated goals of improving the care Medicare delivers to vulnerable patients, streamlining the ability of providers to deliver that care, and ensuring Medicare's long-term viability.

"Not only will these bills help increase Medicare beneficiaries' access to health care and help decrease Medicare costs, each bill has had strong bipartisan support in the House," said NCPA CEO B. Douglas Hoey, Pharmacist, MBA in the letter.

NCPA touted three bills to the subcommittee's chair and ranking member, Reps. Michael Burgess (R-Texas) and Gene Green (D-Texas):

• H.R. 1083, the Improving Transparency and Accuracy in Medicare Part D Spending Act, would force pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) to apply DIR fees at the point-of-sale. As a result, beneficiaries' out-of-pocket costs would not increase and pharmacies' viability would not be threatened by the delayed timing and undetermined amount of these PBM clawbacks.
• H.R. 1316, the Prescription Drug Price Transparency Act, would codify, strengthen and extend current Part D maximum allowable costs (MAC) disclosure requirements for generic prescription drug reimbursements to the TRICARE and the Federal Employee Health Benefits (FEHB) programs.
• H.R. 1939, the Ensuring Seniors Access to Local Pharmacies Act, would allow pharmacies in medically underserved areas (MUAs) to participate in Part D preferred pharmacy networks if they accept the contract terms and conditions that other in-network providers operate under. As a result, beneficiaries would have greater access to discounted copays.