NACDS responds to Federal Register changes regarding Medicaid pharmacy reimbursement for generic drugs

Steven C. Anderson, president and CEO of the National Association of Chain and Drug Stores (NACDS), recently responded to the substantial changes to the Covered Outpatient Drugs Final Rule, which would base Medicaid pharmacy reimbursement for generic drugs on the average manufacturer price (AMP) model.

Anderson stated that the NACDS and their partners must stand up and defend pharmacy patient care and that these cuts have the potential to be devastating for pharmacies.

“This is the latest chapter in a decade-long saga that has required NACDS and our allies to defend pharmacy patient care against the potentially devastating cuts of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 — which was enacted in 2006 — and the regulations that were proposed to implement it in 2007," Anderson said.

The NACDS and their supporters have taken steps to defend patients and pharmacies on federal and state levels by encouraging the legislative, executive and judicial branches of government to enact policies that will place an emphasis on high quality and accessible patient care.

The NACDS’ next step in the process will be to assess every aspect of the final rule and hold it to the same standards of all legislation that has come before it. It will also use it as motivation to continue fighting for suitable government policymaking and accessible patient care, two things the organization has spent the last decade trying to achieve.