Hometown Pharmacists Testified Before House Judiciary Subcommittee on Their Need for Collective Bargaining Rights to Battle PBM Abuses, Help Patients & Save Jobs
Members of the Association of Community Pharmacists Congressional Network Discussed the Impact of Pharmacy Benefit Managers Anti-Competitive Practices
WASHINGTON, March 30, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Testifying before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, Competition and the Internet yesterday, independent pharmacists declared the time is overdue for Congress to grant them an exemption to anti-trust laws to negotiate fairer terms with PBMs. Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) have a strangle hold over the prescription drug delivery system. They decide what drugs patients should receive; set below market reimbursement rates for pharmacies and steer patients away from personal counseling from their neighborhood pharmacists to the PBMs' highly profitable telephone operated mail order facilities.
Renardo Gray, owner and Pharmacist of Westside Pharmacy of Detroit, and a member of Association of Community Pharmacists Congressional Network joined Mike James, Vice President of Government Affairs, ACP*CN and owner and pharmacist of Person Street Pharmacy in urging the Committee to pass HR 1946, the Preserving Our Hometown Independent Pharmacies Act of 2011. Introduced by Congressman Tom Marino (R-PA), the bill has strong support from many Committee members and gives neighborhood pharmacies the right to compete on more level playing field with PBMs.
"A survey conducted by Consumer Reports in 2011 of popular brand name drug prices found independent pharmacies offered lower prices than traditional, national pharmacies, including those owned by PBMs. Independent pharmacies use lower-cost generics to fill over 70% of prescriptions compared to less than 60% by PBMs (since they make more in rebates and secret spread pricing)," James told the Committee.
The top three PBMs control 85% of all prescriptions filled in this country. PBMs' anti-competitive business practices have swelled their profits and severely restricted patients' access to hometown pharmacies of their choice. If PBMs are allowed to continue to manipulate drug prices, the 22,000 independent pharmacies in this country which serve patients 24 hours a day, seven days a week and employ hundreds of thousands of people in America will be at risk of being wiped out. ACP*CN thanks Chairman Robert Goodlatte (R-VA) and the committee for giving neighborhood pharmacists the ability to educate the members on PBM past and present abuses and urges the committee to swiftly pass this bill.
About the Association of Community Pharmacists Congressional Network (ACP*CN)
Based in Washington, D.C., the Association of Community Pharmacists Congressional Network consists of 20,000 independent pharmacists nationwide dedicated to serving the communities in which they live. ACP*CN is dedicated to the survival and growth of the independent pharmacy owner, who often times is the only pharmacy operating in rural towns across America. For more information visit www.acpcn.org.
SOURCE Association of Community Pharmacists Congressional Network
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