NACDS targets Beltway insiders with message on pharmacy’s value

BONITA SPRINGS, Fla. —Federal lawmakers, healthcare policy makers and other powerful decision makers within Congress and the White House are the target of an ambitious and highly coordinated advertising campaign, launching this month, on the benefits of community pharmacy and the critical role of the pharmacist in improving patient care.

Behind the new public relations initiative: the National Association of Chain Drug Stores. NACDS is aiming squarely at the nation’s capitol with a broad-based, multimedia campaign, featuring a series of highly polished and attention-grabbing print ads and other media in local publications, in-transit settings with high commuter visibility, on drive-time radio and online.

The coordinated, “inside the Beltway” outreach program will target Capitol Hill, the White House, the media and opinion leaders in Washington. The effort is part of what organization leaders describe as an increasingly proactive outreach to policy makers.

The ads feature the tagline: “Pharmacies. The face of neighborhood healthcare.” The focus is on services provided by pharmacists, including convenience, accessibility, expertise, prevention of drug interactions and patient counseling.

NACDS president and chief executive officer Steve Anderson unveiled the new ad program at the annual Regional Chain Conference held here, calling it “a major campaign to tell our story like never before.”

“We are turning up the volume on this central message: Pharmacies are essential to health care,” Anderson told NACDS members.

In simple and direct terms, the ads hammer home the message that pharmacists provide that most priceless of healthcare commodities: personal attention to patients’ medication therapy and well-being, from a highly qualified and trained healthcare expert. “From parents of a sick baby to seniors with questions about prescription drug interactions, our nearly 120,000 pharmacists are always there, putting their expertise and the latest technology to work for patients,” reads the text in one ad. Chain pharmacies, the message goes on, comprise “America’s most convenient healthcare resource.”

While pharmacists and pharmacies already enjoy a positive image, Anderson said this good-will does not translate consistently into appropriate treatment in healthcare policy. He said pharmacy could be utilized more effectively to address issues of concern, including the estimated $177 billion in annual direct and indirect costs that result from failure to take prescription drugs as prescribed.

“I believe we are even better equipped, and better focused, to tell the true story of this industry, and to turn this testament into results for your businesses, for the patients and consumers you serve and for the good of the nation,” he told regional-chain pharmacy leaders at the conference.

In line with the ad program, Anderson called on members at the event to redouble their lobbying and outreach efforts with local representatives and policy makers, and said the organization has developed a new tool-kit for its members to encourage grassroots advocacy.

“NACDS member advocacy was a key ingredient in the pharmacy victories achieved in 2007,” he told conference-goers last month. “Continuing our grass-roots efforts in 2008 is imperative—we know the critical issues that we face, we have a united voice, so let’s keep speaking. They are listening.”

Anderson cited the role of grassroots advocacy in 2007 in efforts to block pending Medicaid pharmacy reimbursement cuts, acquiring a six-month delay in implementing the requirement that all Medicaid prescriptions be written on tamper-resistant prescription paper and enactment of legislation that will preserve access to retail pharmacies for military members and their families in the TRICARE health program.

“We will need your participation to achieve success on your behalf in Washington,” he said. “As we tell the story of the face of neighborhood health care, you are the face that matters most to your elected officials.”