I’m delighted right now, but veterans aren’t

NCPA September 16, 2022

Dear Colleague,

Doug HoeyEvery once in a while, NCPA's talented communications team will send me a quote to review that has me saying the word "delighted." I'll be straight up with you that "delighted" is not a word I commonly use in an actual conversation. I'm not anti-delight. It's just not in my conversational vernacular. So, when I actually do use that word, it is to describe something special. With that backdrop, I am delighted and honored that FTC Chair Lina Khan accepted NCPA's invitation to speak at the NCPA Annual Convention in Kansas City, Oct 1-4.

Chair Khan will speak on Monday morning. She and I will have a "fireside chat" and then take questions that pharmacy owner audience members have submitted. Send your question to us at this email address by 5 p.m. ET Friday, Sept. 23.

This is special. It is delightful.

We are honored that the chair of the FTC would find time in her busy schedule to speak at NCPA's annual convention

This isn't the first time I have written about the FTC in this column—all with the same message urging the FTC to look into the anticompetitive behavior of the insurer-owned PBMs:

June 10 Finally, FTC puts PBMs under the microscope

Feb 18 Bruised but not broken

July 23, 2021 PBMs: 21st Century robber barons

April 16, 2021 Antitrust reform can't come soon enough

We are very pleased that the FTC is listening to small businesses and consumers.

Chair Khan's interest in anticompetitive behavior from mega-companies is not new. In 2016, she published a 24,000-word paper, "Amazon's Antitrust Paradox," which delved into why current antitrust laws are not sufficient to deal with today's technology companies.

And, as if community pharmacies and the patients they serve needed a fresh example,
Express Scripts eliminated the option for Tricare beneficiaries to obtain their prescriptions at the pharmacy of choice by cutting out most independent pharmacies from the 2023 retail pharmacy network. To add insult to injury, Tricare beneficiaries recently began receiving letters from Express Scripts notifying them of these changes and that they will now become effective Oct. 24, 2022—just a few weeks away!

NCPA has been reaching out to the Department of Defense to better understand the DOD's expectations for taking care of the medication needs of its men and women in uniform and inform the DOD what we are hearing from community pharmacy owners.

This is another example where your voice as a pharmacy owner is relevant but it's the voice of your patients—in this case, past and present members of the military—whose voices can make the biggest difference. NCPA has created this resource to help you engage your Tricare beneficiaries who have been affected.

There's still time for you to register for NCPA's Annual Convention in Kansas City and see Chairman Khan and speakers like Will Flanary (aka Dr. Glaucomflecken).

We'd be delighted to see you there!

Best,

Doug Hoey

B. Douglas Hoey, Pharmacist, MBA
NCPA CEO

NCPA