Latest Updates

Recently, the California Department of Consumer Affairs issued an Order to allow approximately 6,500 licensed pharmacies in the state to begin performing COVID19 tests without having to coordinate with a patient’s diagnosing or primary care provider. The Order waives sections of California’s Business and Professions Code that interfere with pharmacists’ ability to authorize tests for COVID 19, including a waiver of provisions that would prevent pharmacists from physically collecting the specimens.

Office of the General Counsel (OGC) whether the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act preempts state licensing laws that restrict the ability of pharmacists to order and administer COVID-19 diagnostic tests where the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has expressly authorized pharmacists, under the PREP Act, to order and administer those tests

On Thursday, May 7, a letter signed by Good Neighbor Pharmacy (GNP) and more than 240 patient and provider groups, trade associations, and healthcare companies, was sent to Congressional leadership urging immediate action on DIR fee reform. Link to letter in the article.

On Monday, April 27, a bipartisan letter was sent to U.S. House and Senate leadership urging for the inclusion of pharmacy DIR reform in the next COVID-19 relief package. The bipartisan House letter, led by Reps. Buddy Carter (R-GA), Peter Welch (D-VT), Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), John Rose (R-TN), Vicente Gonzales (D-TX), and Doug Collins (R-GA), garnered 115 signers in the House of Representatives, the most number of signatures ever on a DIR fee focused Congressional letter.

As scientists are working around the clock to develop a COVID-19 vaccine, GNP and ABC are collaborating with ADPC members to call on states to remove barriers that prevent pharmacists from administering vaccines. Learn more here and read a letter the coalition recently sent to HHS Assistant Secretary for Health, Admiral Brett Giroir, M.D.