In the News

Federal regulators and policy makers have increasingly coaxed long-term care patients and services to migrate more to home- and community-based settings in recent years. Now it’s time to allow long-term care pharmacists to do the same, without barriers that have been imposed by lawmakers for years, according to new study findings from the Senior Care Pharmacy Coalition (SCPC) and healthcare analysis firm ATI Advisory.

The Senior Care Pharmacy Coalition (SCPC), the only Washington-based organization exclusively representing the interests of long-term care (LTC) pharmacies, has responded to a Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA)-led May 2023 Discussion Draft of legislation to improve care for enrollees dually eligible for the Medicare and Medicaid (dual eligibles) programs. Senators Carper (D-DE), Cornyn (R-TX), Menendez (D-NJ), Scott (R-SC), and Warner (D-VA) joined Senator Cassidy in this effort.

SCPC President and CEO Alan Rosenbloom speaks with the Pharmacy Podcast Network the importance of advocating for PBM reform​, the status of ​the LTC Pharmacy Definition ​Act​, LTC Pharmacy ​at-home​, ​d​rug pricing legislation ​and its​ implications for LTC Pharmacy, and more.

Across all cultures and generations, caregivers have long served an integral role supporting the health of family members’ or friends in need of long-term care (LTC). In many cases, these caregivers are unpaid individuals without formal training — often a spouse, partner, family member, friend or neighbor.

Despite the purported value of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), drug prices remain unaffordable for many Americans (“Prescription drug pricing reform must rein in pharmacy benefit managers,” Web, Oct. 18). As middlemen between the manufacturers, pharmacies and consumers, PBMs are notorious for abusive business practices that impact both patients’ wallets and their access to prescription drugs, while gouging unaffiliated pharmacies.

One of the three dominant U.S. pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs)—the middlemen that handle the vast majority of prescription drug plans in the United States—has instituted a scheme that has left roughly 400,000 active-duty and retired military households scrambling for a new pharmacy provider within the next week. Critics say the maneuver is a naked attempt by Express Scripts, the Cigna-owned PBM, to steer beneficiaries toward its own market-leading mail-order pharmacy.

SCPC President and CEO Alan Rosenbloom speaks with the Pharmacy Podcast Network about the impact of the Pharmacy Benefit Manager Transparency Act of 2022 on the Pharmacy Profession. He is joined by Michael Baxter, Senior Director of Regulatory Policy at APhA and Todd Eury with the Pharmacy Podcast Network. Listen here.

Congress must thoroughly investigate the anti-competitive behaviors of these conglomerates and act accordingly. Doing so will provide better outcomes both for patients and a more competitive marketplace for unaffiliated pharmacies. By Alan Rosenbloom We’ve been here before, right? A Congress and Administration eager to talk about mysterious escalating prescription drug prices. Over the years, both […]

By John Wilkerson, Inside Health Policy Contrary to independent retail pharmacies, long-term care pharmacies oppose CMS’ proposal to make Part D plans give concessions they receive from network pharmacies to beneficiaries at the point of sale. Senior Care Pharmacy Coalition President and CEO Alan Rosenbloom said the proposed policy would legitimize what he called illegitimate […]