Amidst Push for PBM Reform, NACDS Grassroots Efforts Bloom

Like other major pharmacy organizations—such as the American Pharmacists Association, the National Community Pharmacists Association, and the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists—the National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) has mobilized an “incredible” grassroots network within pharmacy to advocate for the profession, said Steven C. Anderson, FASAE, CAE, IOM.

Anderson, president and CEO of NACDS, spoke with Drug Topics during the 2024 NACDS Total Store Expo, held August 17 to August 19, 2024, in Boston, Massachusetts.

“We do congressional pharmacy tours,” he explained. “We get the Senators and we get the House members into the pharmacies, so they can actually get behind the pharmacy counter and see [not only] what the pharmacist does from a broader health and wellness issue in addition to dispensing drugs, but also about the potential of, they could do much, much more that they’re currently not allowed to do, or are not getting paid for.”

READ MORE: Q&A: An Independent Pharmacist’s Hopes for PBM Reform

Once they’re at the pharmacy, Anderson explained, legislators begin to see the real ways in which pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) hurt their constituents, pharmacist’s patients, employers, and communities. “They’re destroying communities,” Anderson said. “They’re forcing pharmacies to close, and having people drive very long distances to get their prescriptions filled.”

But there’s hope in the grassroots network. “It’s really one of our great powers at NACDS,” Anderson said. “it’s really a superpower, I guess I would call it.”

Ready to catch up on the rest of our conference coverage? Click here for more of our coverage] of the 2024 NACDS Total Store Expo.