Dear Colleague,
I've been fortunate to serve as the president of the World Pharmacy Council the last four years which has been an amazing opportunity to sample community pharmacy innovations from around the world and bring those experiences to the U.S. It was my work with the WPC that led me to coin the statement that the U.S. is the only country in the world that has given PBMs control of their prescription drugs. And the U.S. pays the highest drug prices in the world. By far. NOT a coincidence.
Australia is a country I admire for its community pharmacy practice environment. No chains allowed. The government seems to understand community pharmacy's importance to public health. The pharmacy owners seem mostly unified behind the voice of the Australian Pharmacy Guild. Trent Twomey, the president of the guild, will actually be at this year's NCPA Annual Convention in New Orleans so you'll have a chance to meet and hear from him there.
In some ways, Arkansas is a U.S. state-version of Australia, much admired by other states for the continuity among pharmacy owners and the recognition by the state's policymakers of the importance of local pharmacies to the public health of its citizens. The Supreme Court's unanimous Rutledge v. PCMA decision was a case brought by Arkansas' Attorney General Leslie Rutledge.
Arkansas pharmacists also have deep ties with NCPA. NCPA's president-elect is Kristen Riddle, and one of NCPA's vice presidents is Scott Pace. Mark Riley is one of NCPA's past presidents. As was Gene Graves. And Charlie West was NCPA's executive vice president from 1984-1996.
That's one reason I am so pleased that Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders will be speaking at the NCPA Annual Convention next month! Gov. Sanders' accomplishments probably go without saying but as reminders, here are a few:
-
She's the youngest governor in the U.S.
-
Former White House press secretary
-
National campaign manager for the ONE Campaign, a global nonprofit founded by Irish musician Bono aimed at ending global poverty and preventable diseases
Gov. Sanders also signed H.B.1150 that prohibits state permits to pharmacies owned by pharmacy benefit managers. She faced withering pressure from the out-of-state, multi-billion-dollar lobbyists Big Insurance and their PBM henchmen hired, including the most money spent on lobbying in the state since 2009 when it was big tobacco's jets filling up the runways at LIT.
Being the White House press secretary is no walk in the park and the toughness Gov. Sanders showed as press secretary was on display in staring down the PBMs' lobby.
"For far too long, drug middlemen called PBMs have taken advantage of lax regulations to abuse customers, inflate drug prices, and cut off access to critical medications. Not anymore," she said.
In 2011, Gov. Sanders' dad, Mike Huckabee was one of NCPA's keynote speakers at the Annual Convention in Nashville. "Steer for the curve ahead" was one of his takeaway messages. There's no shortage of curves in the road for community pharmacy. We'll be providing road maps for independent pharmacy owners to help navigate the curves at this year's Annual Convention in New Orleans. We couldn't be more excited for Gov. Sanders to be joining us!
Best,
B. Douglas Hoey, Pharmacist, MBA
NCPA CEO
P.S. This is going to be an amazing Annual Convention (see above and last week's EU) and rooms will be scarce. Make sure to register before the Sept. 23 housing deadline to secure better rates.
