Like throughout the pandemic, chain pharmacies remain committed to serving as the trusted face of neighborhood healthcare. For NACDS, that means advocating for policies that are key to maximizing access, convenience and equity.
Right now, COVID antivirals present a tremendous opportunity to change the game – yet their rollout is not without concerns that must be addressed soon.
NACDS is urging the Administration to make at least two important changes. These changes would help to ensure Americans have ready access to these medications within days of symptoms’ onset, which is necessary for the medications to work:
- The emergency use authorization for the antivirals should be updated to reflect the 9th amendment to the PREP Act declaration – thus allowing pharmacists to assess a patient, prescribe an antiviral if appropriate, and initiate this treatment.
- Pandemics require nimble solutions, and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services should determine a method to ensure payers reimburse pharmacies adequately for the time-intensive nature and unusual expenses associated with dispensing these antivirals.
CBS News recently quoted NACDS on these issues:
- “[Aligning with pharmacists’ authority under the PREP Act] would allow the patient to come to the pharmacy, have the clinical assessment done, have their tests done at the pharmacy, and then be able to come back to that same location and pick up their medication if they are indicated to receive it. What we’ve seen here is the splintering of the patient journey, which can increase frustration and delay medications that need to be put to work quickly in order to be effective.”
- “The reimbursement issue is very much a real problem that we are hearing from our members and quite frankly, this is a situation that will only get worse as antivirals are available in greater quantities.”
