Regulatory and Washington

The import tax proposal has officially been removed from the tax reform plan — which is welcome news for retailers across the industry.

On Thursday, congressional and administration leaders announced they would remove the Border Adjustment Tax from consideration, and announced an outline for comprehensive tax reform. The BAT provision would have ended importers’ ability to deduct the cost of merchandise purchased from other countries. 

BOSTON — Rite Aid's Health Dialog on Monday introduced comprehensive Medication Therapy Management services for health plans. The new MTM services combine analytics with skilled health coaching to help patients overcome barriers to proper medication use, identify medication-related problems, promote coordination of care and improve medication management success.

WASHINGTON — The National Association of Chain Drug Stores has shared its thoughts on the proposed Border Adjustment Tax with members of the Senate Finance Committee ahead of the committee’s hearing this week.  In its comments, the organization outlined the impact that the BAT would have on pharmacies and patients.

SILVER SPRING, Md. — The Food and Drug Administration’s efforts to improve competition in the generics market — its Drug Competition Action Plan — is officially underway. The regulator held an open meeting on July 18, at which FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb said would be the beginnings of a new internal strategy for dealing with abbreviated new drug applications, as well as a guidance on the best submission practices.

WASHINGTON — The Drug Enforcement Administration recently clarified for pharmacists the protocol for forwarding unfilled prescriptions for controlled substances. The DEA’s associate section chief of the liaison and policy section of the DEA’s Diversion Control division Loren Miller clarified that an original e-prescription can be forwarded one DEA-registered retail pharmacy to another in the event they can’t fill it for any reason.

WASHINGTON – The Natural Products Association on Thursday continued their strong membership growth during the second quarter of 2017, welcoming 34 new members to the organization.

Jean Coutu founder Jean Coutu spoke out regarding negotiations with Quebec around dispensing fees, according to a report published last week by Canada's Bell Media. Jean Coutu earlier this year agreed to surrender $300 million in collected dispensing fees in return for smaller manufacturer rebates that cut into pharmacy operating margins. "It is an average of $100,000 for each of our locations," Coutu told shareholders BellMedia reported.