Accelerating innovation in health and wellness.

A January 2021 Bloomberg headline declared: “If They Nail Vaccinations, Drugstores Will Be the Heroes of 2021.”

Steve Anderson

Indeed, NACDS members and their teams — in traditional drug stores, supermarkets and mass retail — are doing that and more. By staying open, filling gaps in care, rolling out COVID testing, and vaccinating against COVID, flu and other diseases, pharmacies throughout the pandemic have proven their essential role as the face of neighborhood health care.

As I write this, pharmacies’ unique value as accessible, convenient, high-quality, equitable and trusted health and wellness destinations is hitting yet another crescendo. In addition to giving some adults and teens their initial doses of COVID vaccines, pharmacy teams are giving COVID boosters and expanding to pediatric COVID vaccinations. They are giving flu vaccinations and other shots, too. Simultaneously, they are readying for a crucial role in the deployment of medications to treat COVID.

I hope the entire industry will share far and wide the series of three authoritative reports that NACDS and collaborators released in October, November and December 2021. Available at NACDS.org/COVID-19, these reports document, celebrate and compel future action based on pharmacies’ central role in saving and restoring America from the pandemic.

For example, we know now from government reporting that, as of mid-July 2021, 92% of all COVID vaccine was getting to Americans’ arms through the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program. Pharmacies’ vaccinations through state programs take that percentage even higher.

As we embark on 2022, NACDS looks to the past as prologue. A key takeaway from the pandemic is that through the power of association NACDS helped to empower pharmacies’ response. NACDS delivered the value that members expect: effective advocacy, actionable information about government policies, and long-standing business relationships that helped meet consumers’ needs amid extreme challenges. This motivates our future work.

Pharmacies’ effectiveness in living up to that January 2021 Bloomberg headline serves as the prelude for certain realities — some immediate and some imminent — that must be addressed by our nation, by our industry and by NACDS.

Foster pharmacies’ value and viability

Much has been made of the power in the statement, “There is a pharmacy within five miles of 90% of Americans.” But what if that were not the case? Unworkable and unsustainable pharmacy reimbursement models are risking the ability of Americans to benefit from the public health assets that came through when the nation needed them most.

Further, pharmacies’ response was facilitated by flexibilities and authorities urged by NACDS and granted by federal and state governments. These flexibilities and authorities should not be rolled back. Also, they should create a new starting point for expansion, such that more Americans can benefit from a broader array of pharmacy services consistently and reliably.

In 2022, NACDS will continue to fight for fair reimbursement and for the scope of services that may be provided by pharmacists and by pharmacy teams. In addition, NACDS will continue to advocate for policies related to other top priorities, including opioid-abuse prevention, health equity and other issues whose importance has been illuminated even more by the pandemic.

NACDS’ work in 2021 continued to build momentum that must roll into 2022. In 2021, we saw more than 70 state bills enacted that will expand pharmacists’ scope of practice. We saw the advancement of an array of productive state policies related to patient access and pharmacy reimbursement. Much of this reimbursement progress flowed from a landmark 2020 Supreme Court ruling that relates to the ability of state laws to regulate pharmacy benefit managers. NACDS submitted a powerful brief in that Rutledge case.

The progress achieved in 2021 was necessary but by no measure sufficient. NACDS remains laser-focused on advancing a pro-patient and pro-pharmacy agenda at the federal and state levels alike in 2022.

Accelerate innovation in health and wellness

Even as NACDS fights relentlessly and strategically for pharmacy reimbursement and scope-of-practice progress, and other sound policies of critical importance to the nation, reflecting the membership now demands a simultaneous commitment to health and wellness innovation.

The pandemic has accelerated self-care, telehealth, home health care, holistic care, multidisciplinary health and wellness, partnerships, digital, omnichannel, the focus on preventive care, health equity, and more.

Serving the industry at this time requires NACDS to accelerate the identification and delivery of bona fide value in these rapidly emerging areas of consumer-empowered health and wellness. NACDS will bring tremendous focus to this strategic imperative. This is not a long-term vision; this is now.

The fact is that many NACDS members are innovating boldly to forge their future and their ability to meet the needs of Americans. While it is not the job of an association to engage in a member’s business, it is the job of an association to ensure it is positioned to add value to members as they calibrate their trajectories to best serve those who rely on them.

NACDS’ determination to live up to this responsibility will spur excitement, opportunities, objectives, action and effectiveness in 2022.

Restore the value of in-person conferences

Speaking of qualities like excitement and effectiveness — and everything in-between — NACDS looks forward to welcoming the industry back to in-person meetings and conferences in 2022.

We look forward to welcoming the industry to the NACDS Regional Chain Conference, the NACDS Annual Meeting, the NACDS Total Store Expo, NACDS Week in New York City, and in-person NACDS RxImpact grassroots advocacy events.

The 2022 events will present a unique opportunity to reinforce and even reimagine the NACDS brand in terms of retailer-supplier collaboration, engagement, energy and overall experience. To do this irreplaceable work, NACDS will rely on its definitive member-centric approach that marshals every aspect of the association’s capabilities and capacity.

The fact is that a reflection of this industry’s heroics during the pandemic yields as much reason for celebration and for motivation in the realm of NACDS conferences as in the realm of NACDS advocacy. The relationships forged at NACDS events throughout the decades are being credited for the trust, creativity and resilience with which retailers and suppliers confronted supply chain, consumer demand and shopping behavior challenges over the past two years.

Now it is time to apply the unique power of NACDS meetings and conferences to the vital work of evaluating, building, broadening and future-ifying the relationships that will empower the industry’s best days that lie ahead.

Throughout the pandemic, much was made about the hope that pharmacies presented to the American public, and the heroics with which they would be credited if they pulled it off.

Now the industry and NACDS find ourselves at another crucial moment. And that is the call to nail 2022 — and the unique and urgent demands that it will bring.

I find it nothing short of perfect that 2022 is a year that will culminate in the arrival of NACDS’ 90th anniversary, which we will celebrate in 2023. Make no mistake: NACDS is accelerating into a new era — built on a proud and productive heritage, inspired by promises kept during the pandemic, and motivated by an uncompromising vision to empower Americans’ total health and wellness.

In 2022, NACDS recommits itself to the highest levels of service, leadership, vision, speed, progress, member responsiveness and innovation. To all NACDS chain and associate members: I want to thank you for your leadership, support and engagement in your trade association.

Steve Anderson is the president and CEO of National Association of Chain Drug Stores.