Tag: pharmacists

Thank a Pharmacist for Keeping Your Community Healthy

National Pharmacist Day, celebrated annually on January 12, honors pharmacists across different specialties and in every setting by recognizing the impact they have in healthcare. There were approximately 316,500 pharmacists in the United States as of the most recent census, many of whom have been vital to the public’s health and wellbeing — long before the ongoing pandemic.   Pharmacists are a vital part of healthcare teams and often rank among the most trusted professions, with survey respondents rating the honesty and ethical standards of pharmacists as “high” or “very high.” Pharmacists not only check and dispense medications for patients; […]

Laws Proposed to Protect Patients from Artificially High Prescription Costs

In a previous blog post, we explored “clawback” and how it affects the prices of prescriptions. In short, Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) negotiate copay prices for insurers that are often higher than the cash price paid by uninsured patients all while instituting a “gag rule” for pharmacists to forbid them from revealing the price discrepancy to patients unless asked directly. A number of states have already passed laws banning clawback and gag rules, though a group of bipartisan U.S. senators have introduced a bill the ban gag clauses for PBM-negotiated contracts nationwide. A recent study by Journal of the American […]

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Welcome to the NeedyMeds Voice! We look forward to presenting you with timely, provocative pieces on healthcare reform, patient advocacy, medication and healthcare access, and other health-related news. Our goals are to educate, enlighten, and elucidate; together, we will try to make sense of the myriad and ongoing healthcare-related changes in the U.S. today.