PUBLISHER'S LETTER
NACDS Institutes New Theme: ‘See the Return of NACDS’
The National Association of Chain Drug Stores announced a theme that will drive its member-service philosophy and member communications during the current economic climate: “See the return of NACDS.” As a testimony to the value of chain members’ involvement and the validity of this theme, NACDS also announced an analytical model that measures public policy victories and their cost savings for member companies. The analysis shows that the successes of 2007 activities saved NACDS chain members more than $4.1 billion in operational costs.
“NACDS will remain focused on what matters to our members, at a time when that matters most,” said NACDS president and CEO Steven C. Anderson. “This association was created 75 years ago to deliver value to members, and member service drives everything we do.”
The analytical model examined a hypothetical 10-store chain and a 25-store chain based on 2007 federal issues and victories in states where each chain operates. The 10-store chain saved $1,032,082 and the 25-store chain saved $2,929,865. Some examples of the victories included in the model are prevention of federal track and trace requirements for prescription drugs, change in the approach to National Provider Identifier (NPI) requirements for Medicaid that prevented the rejection of some pharmacy claims, delay in the implementation of the Medicaid tamper resistant paper requirement, which allowed time for smoother implementation, preventing the rejection of pharmacy claims, maintenance of TRICARE prescriptions by preventing a transition to mail order for this program, and blocking the implementation of Medicaid pharmacy reimbursement cuts.
NACDS says it is preparing customized reports for each chain member. These reports, which vary based on companies’ number of stores and states of operation, are being distributed to member chains.
While these savings reflect 2007 activities, NACDS won substantial additional public policy victories in 2008. These include the four pharmacy provisions in the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 which delayed AMP-cuts to pharmacies, required prompt payment to pharmacies for Medicare Part D prescriptions, delayed the Medicare competitive bidding program for durable medical equipment, and provided incentives for the use of electronic prescribing in Medicare.
Working with its partners in California, NACDS also helped deliver a delay of the electronic pedigree requirement for prescription drugs, saving $90 billion for members operating there. NACDS anticipates these successes will translate into additional cost savings for member companies.
Most recently, NACDS won a “trifecta” of three key victories in Congress’ final pre-election push. These three victories include providing pharmacy choice for TRICARE beneficiaries, Internet pharmacy legislation that distinguishes between legitimate and “rogue” online operations, and pro-pharmacy provisions in a measure designed to prevent methamphetamine production and abuse.
“NACDS works aggressively to create a favorable political and business climate for chain members – in Washington, D.C., and in state capitals across the country,” said Anderson. “We vigorously advocate for legislation and regulations that benefit our membership, and work constantly to amend or defeat legislation that would increase costs or impose unnecessary burdens on chain pharmacies. Combined with the value of bringing buyers and sellers together at NACDS meetings, and NACDS’ value as a source of education and information, we take seriously our responsibility to report back to members about how they can truly ‘see the return of NACDS.’”
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Until next time…..
