The National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA), which represents the owners of more than 22,700 independent community pharmacies, has sent a letter to Congressman Meek offering their full support of HR-3790, the repeal of DMEPOS Competitive Bidding.

The AMEPA Board of Directors greatly appreciates the efforts of AMEPA and NCPA member Bay Street Pharmacy in Sebastian, Florida for initiating this letter of support

The NCPA recently made news in late September after they encouraged Congressman Zack Space(D-OH) to introduce HR 3663, the delay of DMEPOS accreditation for pharmacies. Congressman Space serves on the Health Subcommittee of Energy and Commerce and his bill had 10 co-sponsors before it was enacted into law, just days after it was introduced. Congressman Space and 5 of the co-sponsors of HR 3663 have not yet co-sponsored HR-3790. These congressmen include:

• Marion Berry (D-AR),
• Lloyd Doggett (D-TX),
• Walter Jones (R-NC)
• Charles Melancon (D-LA),
• Earl Pomeroy (D-ND)

The following is an excerpt of NCPA's letter to Congressman Meek:

On behalf of the National Community Pharmacists Association, which represents the owners of more than 22,700 independent community pharmacies, we thank you for introducing H.R. 3790, which repeals competitive bidding in the Medicare Part B durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics and supplies (DMEPOS) program in a budget neutral manner.

Community pharmacies are an important provider of DME to Medicare beneficiaries, especially diabetes testing supplies. We believe that competitive bidding will reduce access to important DME supplies that will compromise their health. Competitive bidding will result in fewer suppliers of DME, which will increase costs in the long run if there are fewer suppliers to bid. Any supposed savings from the competitive bidding program will be more than offset by increased health care costs, especially if Medicare patients with diabetes cannot obtain their diabetes testing supplies.

Click to review the entire letter from the NCPA