NACDS urges House subcommittee to reform DIR fees, standardize performance measures

The National Association of Chain Drug Stores on Tuesday submitted a statement to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce's Subcommittee on Health for a hearing titled, “Negotiating a Better Deal: Legislation to Lower the Cost of Prescription Drugs.”

In the statement, NACDS applauded the inclusion of standardized pharmacy performance Measures in two pieces of legislation – H.R. 3 and H.R. 19 – and emphasized the importance of ensuring that the measures, a prerequisite for controlling prescription drug costs for seniors, remain in any legislation that is voted out of the committee.

“NACDS applauds the committee’s recognition of the importance of Standardized Pharmacy Performance Measures as outlined in H.R. 3 and H.R. 19. The development and implementation of Standardized Pharmacy Performance Metrics is critical to realizing meaningful cost reductions for seniors at the pharmacy counter while allowing pharmacies to respond to true quality and performance metrics that drive better health,” NACDS said.

NACDS continued,“Considering the critical nature of developing and implementing Standardized Pharmacy Performance Measures in controlling seniors’ prescription drug costs, we urge the committee to ensure that provisions to do so remain in any legislation that is approved and passed out of the committee.”

Additionally, NACDS pledged to work with the committee throughout the process on other aspects of the legislation to prevent any further undermining or complications of pharmacy reimbursement in the Part D program that potentially harm patients’ access to affordable care.

“The development and implementation of Standardized Pharmacy Performance Measures is paramount to proactively addressing system challenges that inadvertently drive up out-of-pocket costs for seniors. Specifically, certain system fees, called direct and indirect remuneration, or DIR fees, are currently being imposed haphazardly on pharmacies, driving up out-of-pocket costs for Medicare Part D beneficiaries, and threatening the viability of pharmacies across the nation. Such fees are imposed based on arbitrary, vague, unfair, and inconsistent metrics,” NACDS said. “Given the lack of transparency, the metrics are not only unattainable, but they also do not promote or improve pharmacy performance on meaningful elements such as quality of care or health outcomes.”