Take a Stand Against DIR Fees

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Published by AmerisourceBergen:

“Direct and indirect remuneration (DIR) fees are wreaking havoc on balance sheets across community pharmacies, with many asking what can be done right now. It is reasonable to expect that pharmacy reimbursements are fair, accurate and timely, yet DIR fees are misleading, confusing and retroactive. This lack of transparency, as well as the resulting instability, threatens the viability of independent community pharmacies — and impacts patient access to medication.”

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New Legislation Aims to Prohibit DIR Fees

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Published by Drug Topics:

“Retail pharmacists are optimistic that Medicare direct and indirect remuneration (DIR) fees could end, if new bills proposed in the U.S. Senate and House are passed.

In mid-February, Senators Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) and Jon Tester (D-MT) introduced legislation, Senate Bill 413, which would prohibit pharmacy DIR fees from being applied after the point-of-sale for prescription drugs dispensed to Medicare beneficiaries.”

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Contact Your Elected Officials

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Published by The National Community Pharmacists Association:

“Urge your legislators to co-sponsor newly introduced legislation in both the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives that would curb abusive DIR fees. H.R.1038 sponsored by Representatives Morgan Griffith (R-Va.) and Peter Welch (D-Vt.)would explicitly prohibit PBMs in Medicare Part D from retroactively reducing payments to pharmacies for clean claims under prompt-pay provisions—effectively eliminating DIR clawbacks by PBMs.”

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PBM Corporation Copay Clawbacks Exposed

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Published by The National Community Pharmacists Association:

“The phrase ‘being caught with your hand in the cookie jar’ comes to mind when watching a series of stories by New Orleans WVUE-TV’s investigative reporter Lee Zurik. They explain copay clawbacks—an under-the-radar tactic employed by some pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) corporations to extract more money from patients—in a recent three-part series (part 1, part 2, part 3). Now, that body of reporting is further advanced by a blockbuster article by Kaiser Health News reporter Julie Appleby called ‘Filling A Prescription? You Might Be Better Off Paying Cash.’ ”

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The PBM Story

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Watch how pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) raise prescription drug costs for patients: