Connecticut pharmacist Greg McKenna was featured this week in a Connecticut Examiner story about the DIR fees that have gone up by more than 107,400 percent, devastating independent community pharmacies who pay hundreds of thousands of dollars each year in back-end penalties. “It’s an outrageous amount of money, just outrageous, and it’s totally wrong,” McKenna, owner of Nutmeg pharmacy, told health and education reporter Emilia Otte. Nutmeg has five locations in southeastern Connecticut that collectively paid out between $350,000 and $480,000 in biannual or quarterly fees, says McKenna.
Otte also spoke with Waterbury’s Stoll’s Pharmacy owner Ed Schreiner, who expects to pay $55,000 in fees in 2024 — drawn from his retirement — and North Haven pharmacy owner Gerald Acampora, who expects to pay $50,000 in retroactive fees for 2023. NCPA’s Ronna Hauser, senior vice president for policy and pharmacy affairs, told Otte about NCPA’s role as an advocate for independents, standing before CMS, but also helping owners find strategies to get over the hump. “We’ve just really been trying to educate our members, especially the last 12 months, about how they may need to have cash on hand,” said Hauser. “This may include loans, this is going to include some changes to perhaps your inventory — just different ways to help our members be prepared.”
What else is in NCPA’s arsenal? You may remember the class action lawsuit filed against vertically consolidated CVS Health, Caremark, and Aetna, filed by NCPA member Matt Osterhaus in September, that aims to recoup for independent pharmacies millions of dollars in DIR fees. The suit claims that Caremark has been assessing pharmacy DIR fees in violation of federal antitrust laws and state laws governing contracts, and it challenges CVS' agreements to arbitrate claims as being unfair and unenforceable. NCPA continues to find other ways for independents to fight back, including arbitration through TRUST LLC, a legal entity that will potentially arbitrate or litigate on behalf of individual pharmacies and recover DIR fees. Through TRUST LLC, members can get involved directly, so don’t delay: check it out now.
