These are exciting times in Washington. Our priorities are moving forward and influential elected and administrative staff are coming to speak to us this week at the annual National Community Pharmacists Association Legislation and Government Affairs Conference in D.C.

Yesterday afternoon we heard from Peter J. Levitas, JD, deputy director of the FTC Bureau of Competition. This is one of the groups looking into whether CVS Caremark is engaging in anticompetitive actions. We also heard from Jeffrey A. Kelman, MD, MMSc, chief medical officer for the CMS Center for Beneficiary Choices who talked about the important role independent community pharmacists play in the new health care bill.

I'm particularly excited about today's speakers and topics.

• Representative Wally Herger (R-CA), ranking member of the House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee;
• Our own Senator John Cornyn (R-TX), Agriculture, Nutrition & Forestry; Budget, Finance and Judiciary committees;
• Senator Jon Tester (D-MT), Appropriations, Banking, Homeland Security committees;
• Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chair, Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Subcommittee; 
• Paul Moore, DPh, Office of Rural Health Policy, Health Resources and Services Administration, DHHS;
• Representative Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO) ranking member, House Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee;
  
• Representative Sander Levin (D-MI), chairman, House Ways and Means Committee.
  

A panel discussion with the influential national political blog Politico, Congressional Quarterly, and Wall Street Journal will shed some light on the issues as they see them. Other panel discussions include Medicaid pharmacy, DEA, and FDA issues.

Our lunch speakers include long-time pharmacy advocate Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR), chairman of the Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Insurance; and Rima Cohen, JD, Counselor for Health Policy to the Secretary of HHS.

Tomorrow we descend on our various elected officials to discuss with them and/or their staff the issues most important to pharmacy. This includes the two bills introduced Friday in the U.S. House of Representatives.
 
PBM Audit Reform and Transparency Act of 2010
HR 5234 (Anthony Weiner/D/NY and Jerry Moran/R/KS)
This is a comprehensive PBM reform bill that builds on the NCPA-supported foundation PBM reforms enacted in the health care reform law. This bill applies many of the PBM reporting requirements in the health care reform bill to other private sector health care plans.

• Reforms the manner in which PBMs conduct pharmacy audits to stop the abuses;
• Requires disclosure of PBM reimbursement methodologies so plans and payers can determine whether PBMs are playing games with mail order reimbursement;
• Prohibits PBMs from using financial incentives to shift patients to their own mail-order owned pharmacies;
• Prohibits PBMs from forcing pharmacies to participate in certain PBM networks as a condition of participating in others; and more.
• Click here for a summary.
  

Medicare Access to Diabetes Supplies Act
HR 5235 (Peter Welch/D/VT and Mike Rogers/R/MI)
This bill exempts small community pharmacies from being required to competitively bid under Medicare Part B to provide diabetes testing supplies to their Medicare patients. The next round of the program is scheduled to go into effect in 2013, with bidding starting next year.

More than 20 Texas pharmacists are here, as well as 14 Texas pharmacy students. Don't you wish you were here, too? Then plan on it for next May!

Stay tuned!