ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The National Community Pharmacists Association and its 22,000 member pharmacies are launching Fix DIR Day on Thursday, June 27. Pharmacy stakeholders will be mobilizing their legislators in Congress to contact members of the Senate Finance Committee and urge them to address pharmacy direct and indirect remuneration fees, or pharmacy DIR, in their forthcoming drug pricing package. Fix DIR Day will consist of an email campaign and social media outreach.

Doug Hoey

NCPA chief executive officer B. Douglas Hoey, pharmacist, MBA issued the following statement regarding Fix DIR Day:

“As the Senate Finance Committee develops its legislation to lower drug costs, community pharmacy and our allies need to keep the pressure on Congress to fix pharmacy DIR. Fix DIR Day will remind legislators that, as pharmacy DIR fees have grown increasingly oppressive in the last three years, perhaps as many as 5 percent of all pharmacies including both big chains and regional and community pharmacies have closed their doors. At the same time, millions of seniors have been prematurely pushed into the coverage gap, or ‘donut hole,’ because of pharmacy DIRs artificially inflating the price of their prescriptions at the pharmacy counter. And, billions of taxpayer dollars have been spent on seniors prematurely entering the catastrophic phase where government picks up most of their prescription drug costs. If leaders in Washington truly want to lower drug costs, they must fix pharmacy DIR.”

For more information, visit ncpanet.org/fixdirday.