FTC Chair Lina M. Khan will join us in Kansas City for the NCPA Annual Convention! We’re excited that Khan will speak during the Second General Session on Monday, Oct. 3. The consumer advocate and vertical merger critic will do a “fireside chat” with NCPA CEO Douglas Hoey and will field questions as well. “As FTC chair, Khan has been receptive to hearing the concerns of independent pharmacists, and this is a great opportunity to get her thoughts about issues in our industry and talk about the important work her agency does on behalf of consumers,” Hoey says. Khan was sworn in as FTC chair on June 15, 2021, an appointment NCPA welcomed. We asked that the agency swiftly review the effects of consolidation and vertical integration of health insurance plans and pharmacy benefit managers, and the resulting impact on independent pharmacies and patients. During events in April 2022 and June 2022, NCPA President Michele Belcher described to Khan and others how vertical consolidation in the industry has limited access to care, stifled innovation, and increased prices for consumers. As a result of ongoing advocacy by NCPA and others, the FTC in June voted unanimously to proceed with a 6(b) study of PBM business practices including fees and clawbacks charged to unaffiliated pharmacies, patient-steering, audits of independent pharmacies, reimbursement, and more. Khan joins our previously announced speakers, Mike Abrashoff, former commander of the USS Benfold and author of three books, and Will Flanary, MD, an ophthalmologist and comedian who moonlights in his free time as “Dr. Glaucomflecken” on social media. Kansas City is calling … register today!
