Community pharmacy group to hold annual legislative conference

Community pharmacy and small business representatives will gather May 12-13 at the Hilton Crystal City at Reagan National Airport near Washington, D.C., for the National Community Pharmacists Association's (NCPA) 2015 Annual Legislative Conference.

Attendees will learn about how national politics affects the community pharmacy and its patients. Panelists, speakers and presenters at the two-day event will include:

• Hugh Chancy, NCPA board member
• Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA), who is a registered pharmacist  
• Doug Hoey, NCPA chief executive officer
• Steve Pfister, NCPA senior vice president of government affairs
• Amy Showalter, Showalter Group
• Susan Pilch, NCPA vice president of policy and regulatory affairs
• John Coster, director of the division of pharmacy, CMS Center for Medicaid & CHIP Services
• Matt DiLoreto, NCPA senior director of state government affairs
• Lonny Wilson, chief executive officer, Pharmacy Providers of Oklahoma
• Mark Riley, executive vice president, Arkansas Pharmacists Association
• Molly Ahearn, NCPA director of federal government affairs
• Vince Ventimiglia, adviser to PAPCC and president, Leavitt Partners Collaborative Advocates
• Rodney Whitlock, health policy director for Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) 
• Saul Hernandez, deputy chief of staff and legislative director for Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-NC) 
• Charlie Cook, editor and publisher of The Cook Political Report and political analyst for National Journal

Also, there will be a legislative briefing on issues affecting community pharmacy, and NCPA staff will provide an update on advocacy efforts on behalf of independent pharmacies, including efforts to stop the unfair practices of pharmacy benefit managers, to improve the negotiating power of independent pharmacies, and to achieve provider status for patient services.

The session will include a discussion of the 2015 congressional agenda and how NCPA will continue to work on industry priorities to preserve the ability of independent pharmacies to serve their communities.

More information about the conference can be found online before, during and after the conference at facebook.com/commpharmacy, twitter.com/commpharmacy or ncpanet.org/googleplus and at www.ncpanet.org/meetings/2015-ncpa-annual-legislative-conference.