B. Douglas Hoey

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The National Community Pharmacists Association issued the following statement on behalf of CEO B. Douglas Hoey reacting to the government’s response to litigation that would close a regulatory loophole allowing massive corporate middlemen to heap retroactive fees on local pharmacies:

“The retroactive fees that PBMs charge increased by 45,000 percent between 2010 and 2017. Moreover, they are imposed long after the point of sale, which creates significant cash-flow challenges for local pharmacies. HHS enabled this predatory behavior by inserting open-ended language into the final rule without public comment.

“This must end. We cannot allow massive corporations to exploit the rule in ways that destroy family-owned pharmacies, which are essential health care providers. That should be especially clear in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, during which community pharmacies are delivering the vaccines to millions of Americans in parts of the country where there are very few other health care providers.”

For information on NCPA v. Becerra, click here.

The government’s response can be found here.