06/26/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 06/26/2024 12:46
NACDS is commending U.S. Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-OR) for calling on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) "to step up oversight and enforcement of Medicare Part D program requirements for pharmacy benefit managers (PBM)" - so that patients may continue to benefit from the essential services provided by their pharmacies.
A June 24 letter from Sen. Wyden outlines several actions that CMS should immediately take to "protect pharmacies from unfair contracting practices":
NACDS President and CEO Steven C. Anderson said of the news: "The inflated drug prices that Americans pay, the barriers to pharmacy and medication access that they face, and the impossible terms forced on pharmacies - at the hands of the pharmaceutical middlemen - cannot be allowed to stand. We applaud Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden for his ongoing commitment to delivering PBM reform. We urge CMS to act on the recommendations outlined by Senator Wyden that would help rein in PBMs and their harmful tactics - recommendations that the agency can implement within its existing authorities.
"An all-branches-of-government approach is what is critically needed to get PBM reform done.
"NACDS hails the bipartisan work of the Senate Finance Committee; the House Energy and Commerce Committee; the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee; the House Ways and Means Committee; the House Oversight and Accountability Committee; the Senate and House leadership; and other leaders who continue work toward the enactment of comprehensive PBM reform - on which Congress has achieved broad and bipartisan consensus.
"For patients and for the pharmacies on which rely they, PBM reform is must-pass legislation in the 118th Congress."