APhA CEO Knoer calls for pharmacy reimbursement overhaul

Pharmacy reimbursements need to be totally restructured so patient care in pharmacies becomes profitable, APhA CEO Scott Knoer, PharmD, wrote in a blog post this week. Knoer noted that PBMs often reimburse pharmacies at such a low rate that they lose money on prescriptions, leading to pharmacy deserts and patients losing access to care. If pharmacists were to get paid for patient care, pharmacy chains would change their business model to take advantage of that, he stated. “Chains aren’t to blame, and our sisters and brothers working in chains are overworked and underappreciated patriots serving society. The cause of our upside-down priorities is how our health care system pays for prescription drugs and patient care.” Knoer pointed out that pharmacists are the second-highest educated professionals in health care behind physicians and urged Congress to include provider status for pharmacists in the next package of coronavirus legislation. He also called on Congress to monitor vertical mergers in the pharmaceutical industry to make sure they actually benefit patients and the public. “PBMs are already vampiric to the pharmacy industry, most obviously independent pharmacy” said Knoer. “Now PBMs have their own pharmacies and have even integrated with insurers in some cases. There’s nothing that proves that such arrangements will benefit the public in any way.”