Latest Updates

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.

On April 8th the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) made the historic decision to allow pharmacists to order and administer FDA approved COVID-19 tests. Empowering pharmacists to test for COVID-19 is a policy GNP and ABC have advocated for, and we are pleased to see this recent HHS guidance. However, in California pharmacists are still unable to administer COVID-19 tests due to existing state restrictions.