This week was an exciting week with many wins for patients and our advocacy.
North Dakota passed legislation that prevents forcing patients to mail-order pharmacies. Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA) the lobbying group for pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) that own mail order pharmacies such as CVS Caremark, Optum RX, and Express Scripts, appealed claiming that states cannot regulate PBMs due to some plans being regulated at a federal level such as large employer-sponsored plans and Medicare. PCMA appealed and this week the 8th District Appeals Court sided with the state as many state attorneys general across our nation stepped up to support North Dakota’s law.
This gives us more hope that states can pass legislation across our nation and save patients and our children from the many risks with mail order pharmacies. We need to continue outreaching to our local representatives and demand similar legislation for patient choice of pharmacy.
Next, CVS dropped out of another case after pressure:
"CVS Pharmacy, Inc. vs. Doe, stemmed from a lawsuit filed against CVS by multiple people who take prescription drugs for HIV/AIDS. The plaintiffs objected to changes to the company's terms that meant they could not opt-out of mail-only delivery or utilize another pharmacy with experience handling their special medication needs. They argued it had a discriminatory impact on them, even if that wasn't the company's intent."
"When encouraging CVS to withdraw this case, the disability community asked CVS to find a different regulatory or policy venue other than the Supreme Court to address its concerns and agreed to work with CVS to do so," Maria Town, president and CEO of AAPD, told CBS News in a statement.
Then, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation held a protest outside of CVS Headquarters to protest CVS’s role in the creation of pharmacy deserts. I would like to connect with this group and maybe we can increase the number of people at the protest next time �
Lastly, Stat recently reported that California wants to revoke “OptumRx pharmacy license for prescribing lapses” or patients not receiving medications on time. For years, this abuse and neglect of patients have been overlooked and nothing has been done to protect the patients.
On another note CVS has merged with health insurer Aetna and forces patients to their own pharmacies has announced that it will close 10% of their stores during this pandemic. This announcement came about a week after Tricare announced that Walmart would no longer be covered as they had struck a deal with CVS. Tricare covers active duty members, retirees, activated guard & reserve members, and families. Absolutely heartbreaking.
I’m beyond thankful for the momentum that is growing for this issue. Please keep the good work up!
Pharmacy choice will save lives.
Thank you for your support,
Loretta Boesing
Founder of Unite for Safe Medications