The Senior Care Pharmacy Coalition (SCPC), the leading national voice for the long-term care pharmacy community, and the Save Senior Rx Care campaign released the following statement today to congratulate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for being confirmed as Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
Facing deep losses on high-demand medications, 85% of long-term care pharmacies say they will limit essential services and 60% will close locations without changes to Medicare drug pricing efforts.
Those are among the “unintended consequences” revealed in a Senior Care Pharmacy Coalition survey released Wednesday. The trade association has been increasingly vocal about pricing changes set to go into effect in January.
Up to 60% of long-term care pharmacies may have to close if Congress doesn’t intercede by January, according to a report released Wednesday by the Senior Care Pharmacy Coalition.
“Government mandated Medicare drug pricing policies inadvertently break the LTC pharmacy payment model because Medicare Part D and PBMs [pharmacy benefit managers] force LTC pharmacies to subsidize inadequate payment with revenues from expensive brand-name drugs,” the organization said.
The Senior Care Pharmacy Coalition (SCPC), the leading national voice for the long-term care (LTC) pharmacy community, and the Save Senior Rx Care campaign released a statement on the newly released Medicare drug price negotiations from the Biden Administration on the next 15 drugs:
“Today, the Biden administration announced the next 15 drugs that will be subject to Medicare price negotiations, which include another 10 medications often utilized by patients in long-term care (LTC). This decision means the majority of the 25 drugs selected so far – 8 of 10 in 2026 and 10 of 15 in 2027 – will have a direct and substantial impact on the ability of LTC pharmacies to continue providing essential care services, underscoring the urgent need for Congress to act. Lawmakers must address the unintended consequences of this new policy and the severe impact it will have on both LTC pharmacies and the unique patient population they serve.
The Senior Care Pharmacy Coalition (SCPC), the leading voice for the nation’s long-term care (LTC) pharmacy community, and the Save Senior Rx Care campaign released a statement today to commend the FTC for once again shining a light on the abusive practices of the big PBMs that continue to rake in massive profits while patients, pharmacies, employers and taxpayers foot the bill for ever-increasing drug prices.
Even as the federal government on Thursday touted the billions of dollars in savings seniors can expect to see from newly negotiated, lower drug costs, pharmacies that supply long-term care facilities are warning of dire consequences.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced Thursday morning that it had reached an agreement with drug makers to lower the list prices Medicare would pay for 10 of the most expensive drugs that are frequently prescribed to seniors by 38% to 79%.
The Senior Care Pharmacy Coalition (SCPC), the leading national voice for the long-term care pharmacy community, and the new Save Senior Rx Care campaign released a statement today in response to the new drug pricing announcement:
“Today, the Biden Administration released the negotiated 2026 prices for the ten most expensive Medicare Part D drugs, as required by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Lowering drug prices for seniors – and for all Americans – is an important goal, and today’s announcement is a positive sign for seniors.
Many of the nation’s long-term care pharmacies are going to fall below “break-even” and may be forced out of business without additional support when drug-pricing policy changes kick in, sector advocates warned Wednesday.
The Senior Care Pharmacy Coalition is launching a new campaign for federal payment reform as the White House finalizes lower prices on 10 drugs widely used by Medicare beneficiaries and Congress toys with legislation that could loosen pharmacy benefit managers’ grip on most other US drug pricing.
America’s long-term care (LTC) pharmacies are launching Save Senior Rx Care, a new campaign urging Congress to protect access to life-saving medications and services for the millions of Americans who need long-term care.
The campaign will raise awareness of the unintended but potentially devastating consequences of new drug pricing policies on LTC pharmacies and the vulnerable patients they serve.
Firms that manage drug benefits, which promise to keep a lid on high drug costs, instead steer patients away from less expensive medicines and overcharge for cancer therapies, Federal Trade Commission investigators found.
The FTC, in a report released Tuesday, detailed a number of actions that it said large pharmacy-benefit managers use to boost their profits and increase the spending of the health plans and employers that hired them to control costs. The actions can also lead to higher outlays for patients at the pharmacy counter, the agency said.
Americans are paying too much for prescription drugs.
It is a common, longstanding complaint. And the culprits seem obvious: Drug companies. Insurers. A dysfunctional federal government.
But there is another collection of powerful forces that often escape attention, because they operate in the bowels of the health care system and cloak themselves in such opacity and complexity that many people don’t even realize they exist. They are called pharmacy benefit managers. And they are driving up drug costs for millions of people, employers and the government.
Nursing home patient access to prescription drugs is being squeezed as several market and regulatory factors have combined to increase the power pharmacy benefit managers have over long-term care pharmacies, an advocacy group warned federal officials last week.
Pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, serve as a go-between between insurers, pharmacies and drugmakers. They have been long villainized in the commercial insurance world, but their influence over those who serve nursing homes and other aging services providers has grown amid fresh political and financial scrutiny.
