The Healthcare Leadership Council is advocating for leaders in the Senate and House to enact several legislative items before the end of 2024, according to a news release shared with Becker’s. One of these pertains to pharmacist-provided services.
The organization is asking Congress to enact the Equitable Community Access to Pharmacist Services Act. If passed, the bill would expand reimbursement coverage for pharmacists administering vaccines, providing medication therapy management and offering preventive care services in underserved areas, the HLC said.
These flexibilities were greenlit throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and ended when the public health emergency expired June 30, 2023.
“Unfortunately, now pharmacists are once again limited in their ability to leverage their medical training due to an unnecessary barrier that fails to recognize pharmacists as providers in Medicare Part B,” the organization said. “We urge Congress to support efforts to designate pharmacists as providers under Medicare Part B.”
The HLC is composed of CEOs and C-suite executives across the healthcare industry. Member organizations include AdventHealth, Amazon, Cardinal Health, Epic, Johnson & Johnson, Mayo Clinic and UnitedHealth Group.
The HLC also requests Congress extend or make permanent flexibilities for telehealth services and Medicare’s acute hospital-at-home waiver program; extend funding for community health centers; reauthorize the Older Americans Act, which funds several programs for older adults and their caregivers; and reauthorize for the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act, which is scheduled to expire Dec. 31.
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