NCPA CEO Douglas Hoey and Senior Vice President of Policy and Pharmacy affairs Ronna Hauser met this week with Xavier Becerra, the Health and Human Services secretary, and his staff, along with other pharmacy stakeholders. Becerra spoke with the pharmacy community about recent changes to insulin copays and adult vaccine cost-sharing in Medicare. Becerra has been meeting with independent pharmacists throughout the country to discuss implications of the Inflation Reduction Act on pharmacy and patients and stressed how pharmacy input is critical moving forward. He reiterated how important a role pharmacy plays in administering COVID-19 vaccines, and how this role should continue. Hoey and Hauser discussed how the winddown of the public health emergency is confusing and HHS reiterated that the PREP protections apply as long as government-procured product is being distributed, so May 11 (end of PHE) will not be an issue for pharmacy. However, once COVID-19 vaccines go into the commercial market there will be further dialogue about continuing PREP protections.
NCPA
