May 28, 2021
Letter shows broad support for provider status bill
You know a bill is popular across the pharmacy community when 135 organizations, large and small (including, of course, APC) sign onto a thank-you letter to the legislators who are sponsoring it in Congress.
Two senators and three representatives have introduced the Pharmacy and Medically Underserved Areas Enhancement Act (H.R. 2759/S.1362), which would be a major step toward pharmacist provider status. It would have Medicare pay pharmacists for the services they provide, on a state-by-state basis. (So, for example, whatever services Iowa authorizes pharmacists to provide, Medicare would cover in Iowa.) It wouldn’t expand pharmacists’ scope of practice — it simply authorizes Medicare to pay pharmacists for the same services they already legally offer.
We’ll keep you updated on the bill, and you can click here to read the joint letter we signed.
