PHARMACY AFFAIRS

Unfortunately, on October 24, 2022, Tricare and ExpressScripts dropped about half of all independent pharmacies from their list of contracted pharmacies. We disagree with this decision by the US government. Veterans and their families deserve the right to choose which pharmacy they utilize. We ask that Tricare reverse that decision immediately and issue new contracts with pricing that would allow pharmacies to at least not lose money on every prescription. Below is a letter written …

A recent study showed that over 50,000 people died from opioid overdose in 2019. Of those overdoses, at least 1/3 had people around when the overdose happened. That means that at least 17,000 of those people could have been saved if the bystanders had Naloxone Nasal Spray available when they overdosed. We recommend that every household with either teens or young adults have Naloxone on hand. We also recommend every household with opiate users should …

There have been a lot of changes in the pharmacy profession, and DIR fees have to be the worst idea to ever be conceived. DIR fees are “Direct and Indirect Remuneration Fees.” They are fees that Medicare and PBMs assess on pharmacies months after the prescription is filled. Pharmacies have no control over these fees and cannot even estimate what they will be. Pharmacies find out about these fees when they receive a notice months …

There has been a lot of discussion about Pfizer’s Paxlovid and how well it works for COVID-19. We wanted to just let the public know why we chose not to stock the drug. When we first heard that Paxlovid was coming out, we were very excited. Not only was the drug coming out, but the government was allowing pharmacists to prescribe and dispense the medication. It looked like this could be a great thing for …

We know that PBMs make tons of money from paying pharmacies very little for drugs and then charging crazy prices to employers or insurance companies for the prescription that was dispensed. Our most recent PBM story involves one of the largest PBMs in the country. But, they all work the exact same way. We had a Hospice patient that needed a medication. In general, the PBMs will cover dirt cheap drugs with no problem. But, …