| ASCP Advocacy Center As ASCP's Policy & Advocacy staff identify critical issues that require your input and participation, special legislative and regulatory alerts will appear on this page that contain information and resources. Keep up with ASCP Insider for the latest breaking news, and watch this page for alerts! Download ASCP's Grassroots Toolkit! Learn how to approach your elected officials, meet them in person, and make your voice heard! Visit this page to download ASCP's Grassroots Toolkit! (ASCP Member login required.) Urge Congress to Use Subsitute Pharmaceutical Waste Language in Health Care Legislation! Support Safe, Efficient and Manageable Drug Dispensing Techniques in Long-Term Care! Urge Senate and House Members to Substitute Our Language for Existing Sections in the Health Care Reform Bills! Provisions in both the Senate and House health care reform bills (Section 3312 of S. 1796 and Section 1187 in H.R. 3962) would require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to require Part D plans to require long-term care pharmacies to use specific drug dispensing techniques such as one-day, seven-day and remote dispensing to reduce pharmaceutical waste in long-term care. These requirements could be imposed without regard to the individualized needs and capacities of nursing homes and long-term care pharmacies. ASCP has long advocated for comprehensive strategies to reduce pharmaceutical waste (see ASCP Pharmaceutical Waste White Paper and Policy Statement) but the approaches in both the Senate and House bills are likely unworkable. We have drafted alternative language that would recognize the need for long-term care pharmacy and other stakeholders to be involved in the development of standards. It also takes into account the regulatory requirements of long-term care facilities in ensuring consistent, efficient and safe pharmaceutical care for patients and to have uniform, consistent, and effective provision and distribution of medications to all patients regardless of payor type. Click here to read our alternative language. It is critical that you contact your members of Congress today and urge them to drop this provision. Please read ASCP’s Issue Brief on this issue, then click the action link below to send a letter to your elected officials. If you have any questions, please contact govaff@ascp.com. Help Secure Support to Fix DEA -- Meet With Key Members of Congress in December and Early January! The Senate Special Aging Committee staff is interested in holding a hearing on the DEA's impact on long-term care and hospice patients. It is critically important that we continue to educate key Members of Congress and ask for their support on our proposed legislative changes. Our legislation would require DEA to treat long-term and hospice settings like hospitals and permit prescribers, nurses and pharmacists to prescribe and dispense controlled drugs efficiently and safely. Specifically, our legislation would require DEA to recognize chart orders as valid prescription orders for controlled drugs for long-term care residents, hospice and home health patients and to recognize that nurses in long-term care, hospice and home health act as agents of practitioners for purposes of documenting, transmitting and communicating prescription orders to the pharmacy. Please review this list of targeted Senate and House Members. If you are a constituent or have significant ties to any these members, please schedule meetings with them in December and early January in their district offices. Ask these key Members to support our efforts and ask if they are willing to sponsor/cosponsor our legislation. We are particularly looking to engage Senators on the Senate Special Aging (in advance of the anticipated hearing on this issue in late January) and Judiciary Committees and to identify House Members on the committees of jurisdiction to take the lead and sponsor our bill. The committees of jurisdiction in the House are the Energy and Commerce Committee and the Judiciary Committee. If you are interested in setting up meetings, please do the following:
Help Pharmacists become Part of Health Care Reform -- Support the "Independence at Home" Act On May 25, 2009, US Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) of the Senate Special Committee on Aging and the Senate Finance Committee and US Representative Ed Markey (D-MA), co-chairman of the Bi-Partisan Congressional Task Force on Alzheimer's disease and senior member ofthe Energy and Commerce Committee, introduced the "Independence at Home Act" (IAH) (S. 1131, H.R. 2560). The Act would establish a new Medicare pilot program in 26 states to provide certain high cost Medicare beneficiaries suffering from multiple chronic conditions with access to coordinated, primary care medical services in lower cost treatment settings, such as their residences, under a plan of care developed by at eam of qualified and experienced health care professionals. ASCP worked to ensure that pharmacists were included in this groundbreaking bill. As a result, chronically ill Medicare beneficiaries who enroll in an "IAH" Program will be eligible to receive medication monitoring and management by "a pharmacist who is board certified in geriatric pharmacy by the Commission for Certification in Geriatric Pharmacy or possesses other comparable board certification demonstrating knowledge and expertise in geriatric pharmacotherapy." IAH has attracted bipartisan support in both the House and Senate, including: Senators Richard Burr (R-NC), Ben Cardin (D-MD), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), and Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ) and efforts are underway to include the IAH in broader health care reform legislation. YOUR HELP IS NEEDED TODAY. Update (9/14/09): Last week, Congressmen Randy Forbes (R-VA) and Bruce Braley (D-IA) and Joe Sestak (D-PA) agreed to cosponsor the Independence at Home Act (H.R. 2560). This brings the total sponsors of the Independence at Home Act in the House to 20: 13 Democrats and 7 Republicans. As bipartisan support grows, attention turns to the members of the Senate Finance Committee who have yet to release their health care reform bill. Last week, ASCP joined members of the IAH Coalition in sending a letter to Senator Finance Committee leaders urging them to include IAH in the health care reform. To read the letter, click here. Take action now! - ASCP's Legislative Alert Page - Tell Your Elected Officials to Support the Independence at Home Act! - For a summary of the bill, click here - For the FAQ, click here - For the updated Issue Brief (9/22/09) to share with your Member of Congress, click here - For a copy of the bill text, click here Ask Your Elected Officials to Support the Boxer and Kohl Bills that Positively Impact Senior Care Pharmacists! ASCP's Policy and Advocacy staff was instrumental in getting language included in two different bills that were recently introduced in Congress that would positively impact senior care pharmacists! Please ask your U.S. Senators and Representatives to cosponsor both measures! 1. The Caring for an Aging America Act of 2009 (S. 750/HR 3098) has only been introduced in the Senate and will establish a Geriatric and Gerontology Loan Repayment Program for eligible pharmacists and other health care professionals. (Click here for a summary of the bill.) New on 12-10-09: Click here for the amendment text. Click here to see the draft sign-on letter to the Senate. 2. The Retooling the Health Care Workforce for an Aging America Act of 2009 (S. 245/HR 468) has been introduced in both the Senate and the House and will expand, train, and support all sectors of the health care workforce to care for the growing population of older individuals. More specifically for pharmacy, it expands opportunities for pharmacists and directs training to increase awareness of medications issues in older adults. (Click here for a summary of the bill as it affects pharmacy.) Please contact your Senators and Representatives TODAY by clicking below: (you will need to contact each separately) Meet With Your Elected Officials And Ask Them to Include Pharmacists in Health Care Reform! Below you will find information that will help you to set up a meeting with your elected official and/or their staff members, including valuable data about the impact of pharmacists that you can leave behind after your meeting. These files are for ASCP Members only--please log in using the form at the top right of this website.
You can still make your voice heard in Washington! Click here to write a letter to your elected officials urging them to include pharmacists in health care reform! Please e-mail govaff@ascp.com with any questions! |
