Three pharmacy provisions advocated by the National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) are included in the healthcare reform bill advanced last night by the U.S. House of Representatives. The bill includes provisions that were part of the healthcare reform measure passed by the Senate in December 2009, including those related to:
1. A series of grant and pilot programs that include medication therapy management (MTM);
2. Improvements to the Medicare Part D MTM benefit; reductions in the patient-care-jeopardizing cuts to Medicaid pharmacy reimbursement under the average manufacturer price (AMP) model;
3. A conditional exemption for pharmacies from the durable medical equipment (DME) Medicare accreditation requirements.
The advancement of the NACDS-urged MTM provisions demonstrates results for NACDS’ vision that pharmacy will own the issue of medication adherence, which refers to helping patients take the right medications in the right ways. NACDS has emphasized pharmacy’s ability – through services including MTM – to help reduce the estimated $290 billion in annual costs that result from poor medication adherence, amounting to 13 percent of all healthcare expenditures.More »
