Bipartisan legislation that would let pharmacists devote more time to Medicare beneficiaries and less to adjudicating claims with pharmacy benefit management firms was introduced in the U.S. Senate and won the backing of the National Community Pharmacists Association earlier this week.

The Marketplace Fairness Act is one step closer to passing. The Senate voted 63-30 to end debate on the bill, which would compel online retailers to collect state taxes, and will make a final decision on the bill on May 6.

The National Association of Chain Drug Stores recognized U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan for her continued leadership on behalf of pharmacy patient care.

As the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives examined the meningitis outbreak this week, the National Association of Chain Drug Stores distinguished between the types of pharmacy compounding and the settings in which they take place, and emphasized the critical, life-saving benefits of pharmacy compounding.

In a statement issued on Monday, the National Association of Chain Drug Stores applauded the U.S. Senate for its passage of the “Strengthening and Focusing Enforcement to Deter Organized Stealing and Enhance Safety Act of 2012,” also known as the “Safe Doses Act” (H.R. 4223 and S. 1002).

As the Drug Store News Group and its partners at the Convenient Care Association played host to several hundred in-store based providers in Orlando, Fla., in late July for the fifth annual Retail Clinician Education Congress, several signs began to emerge that the retail clinic model had reached a critical tipping point.

The National Association of Chain Drug Stores announced on Wednesday that it has submitted a statement to the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control, detailing chain pharmacy’s engagement in the prevention of prescription drug abuse, and its commitment to maintaining patients’ ready access to medications vital for pain management and for treatment regimens.

Following the Senate’s defeat of a proposal that would have permitted “personal importation” of prescription drug medications, the National Association of Chain Drug Stores lauded the Senate’s decision to support patient safety.

The National Association of Chain Drug Stores and the National Community Pharmacists Association today expressed concerns in a letter sent to Senate Armed Services Committee and House Armed Services Committee leaders over the potential impact of the administration’s fiscal year 2013 budget on Tricare beneficiaries and community pharmacy.

An amendment to the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill that would prohibit the FDA from preventing an individual not in the business of importing a prescription drug from importing prescription drugs from Canada, has sparked concern with the National Association of Chain Drug Stores.

The National Community Pharmacists Association is recommending several ways for reducing Medicare Part D fraud, waste and abuse to the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs subcommittee, the group said Tuesday.

The National Community Pharmacists Association on Wednesday expressed its concerns over track-and-trace systems in its comments submitted to the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing, “Securing the Pharmaceutical Supply Chain.”