NCPA: Kennedy Health Reform Proposal a Good First Step

ALEXANDRIA, Va.--(Business Wire)--
The National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) welcomes the introduction
of the "Affordable Health Choices Act" proposed by Senate Health, Education,
Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Edward Kennedy (D-MA). In response, NCPA
Executive Vice President and CEO Bruce T. Roberts, RPh issued the following
statement today:

"Earlier this year, NCPA proposed a number of recommendations to achieve better
health outcomes and lower costs by utilizing pharmacist-delivered patient care
services. The Affordable Health Choices Act reflects, in part, these priorities
and is a good first step toward a meaningful health care reform bill. The
legislation creates a national framework for empowering pharmacists to play a
greater role in improving the quality of care, as measured by sensible
performance benchmarks.

"Specifically, the establishment of a grant program to allow
pharmacist-delivered medication therapy management (MTM) would be a milestone
for community pharmacy. MTM can be an important part of an interdisciplinary
approach to the treatment of chronic disease and can improve patient outcomes.
Further, it allows pharmacists to play a larger role in reducing improper
medication, which has been estimated to cost $177 billion in treatment costs
annually.

"A number of the bill`s other provisions require further review. For example, we
want to make sure the requirement that employers provide health care benefits
does not unfairly impact small businesses like independent pharmacies.

"We appreciate the consideration Chairman Kennedy and his colleagues gave to
independent pharmacies in writing this legislation. While the bill is a welcome
starting point, NCPA will continue working with Congress on our remaining health
care reform agenda to help independent pharmacies better serve patients. We need
a permanent fix to Medicaid`s AMP approach to paying for generic drugs or
thousands of community pharmacies will be forced to leave the program or close
altogether. State-licensed pharmacists should be exempted from Medicare`s costly
and onerous durable medical equipment accreditation requirement, which threatens
patient access to diabetes testing supplies and other goods. In addition,
oversight of pharmacy benefit managers is needed to ensure they are more
transparent, accountable, and better serve patients."

The National Community Pharmacists Association, founded in 1898, represents the
nation`s community pharmacists, including the owners of more than 23,000
pharmacies. The nation`s independent pharmacies, independent pharmacy
franchises, and independent chains dispense nearly half of the nation's retail
prescription medicines. To learn more go to www.ncpanet.org.

NCPA
Kevin Schweers / John Norton
703-683-8200
Kevin.schweers@ncpanet.org / john.norton@ncpanet.org

Copyright Business Wire 2009