The next time you look for a drug store, make sure it’s looking out for you.

Look for the Mississippi Independent Pharmacies Association sticker on the door.

Mississippi independent pharmacies are dedicated to serving you and your community. Independently owned pharmacists take the time to understand your healthcare needs from dispensing medication for an illness to dispensing the answers necessary to sooth your concerns.

The independent, community pharmacists in your town will always meet the expectations of your community. The foundation of their business is customer service, which means you can depend on your community pharmacists 24/7.

Your name is not your prescription number and coming back in an hour is not an option. The personal attention a community pharmacist gives, will let you know they are in your corner. This is why Mississippi is proud of our independently owned pharmacies.

And not only does the consumer’s money benefit the business of the community pharmacy, but it also aids in the growth of the local community and state of Mississippi. This is why Mississippi is proud of our independently owned pharmacies.

Mississippi Might on TRICARE

NCPA greatly appreciates that after meeting with Mississippi Independent Pharmacies Association owners, Rep. Steven Palazzo (R-Miss.) offered a key amendment on TRICARE legislation that the committee adopted. It would require the Department of Defense to study the effects of offering incentives for mail order pharmacy use on community pharmacies.

NCPA and NACDS are continuing to urge DoD and Congress to promote the use of lower cost generic drugs at neighborhood pharmacies, instead of tilting the playing field to mail order with its spread pricing and secret deals to promote costly brand name drugs.

Senator Wicker Supports S1058 In the Congressional Record

SUPPORT THE PHARMACY COMPETITION AND CONSUMER CHOICE ACT
Mr. WICKER. Mr. President, I rise in support of the Pharmacy Competition and Consumer Choice Act, S. 1058. In light of the Federal Trade Commission’s recent decision to allow the merger of two Pharmacy Benefit Managers, creating the largest PBM in our nation, I call on my colleagues to join me in supporting this vital piece of legislation. The Pharmacy Competition and Consumer Choice Act, if enacted, would help protect patients and providers from soaring health-care costs and potentially anticompetitive conduct by PBMs, who are the middlemen in the prescription drug industry.
Over the past several years, I have spoken with many of Mississippi’s pharmacists who feel powerless against PBMs and their overreaching influence in their industry. In Mississippi, where over one million individuals live in rural, medically underserved areas, community pharmacists play a pivotal role in providing health care to patients. These pharmacists, often the only health-care providers in an area, develop trusting relationships with their customers and communities. This legislation will help level the playing field between community pharmacies and PBMs, while ensuring Americans have access to the providers of their choice.
While a few states, such as my State of Mississippi, regulate the activities of PBMs, these powerful players in health care remain largely unregulated by the Federal Government. PBMs compete across state lines in our country, and this legislation would provide national anti-fraud oversight in each of our fifty States.
The need for this legislation is clearer now than ever. With the upcoming merger, one company will control 40 percent of the market. As one FTC Commissioner appropriately stated, it will be a “game changer.”
Mr. President, I am an unyielding supporter of free markets, and I strongly believe this legislation would facilitate a more transparent, competitive, and fair marketplace for PBMs, pharmacies, providers, and patients. On behalf of the millions of Americans and businesses affected by the market practices of Pharmacy Benefit Managers, I urge my colleagues to pass the Pharmacy Competition and Consumer Choice Act.

NACDS Applauds Enactment of Mississippi PBM Audit Legislation to Protect Patients, Community Pharmacies

Alexandria, Va. – The National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) today hailed the enactment of pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) audit legislation (HB 1490). Governor Phil Bryant (R) signed the bill into law on April 24, following swift legislative action after the bill was introduced on February 23 by Rep. Eugene Forrest Hamilton (R).
Among other provisions, the law will establish procedures for conducting an audit under the state’s Pharmacy Audit Integrity Act, and authorize monetary penalties to PBMs for noncompliance with the Act.
NACDS thanked the Mississippi Independent Pharmacies Association (MIPA) for its leadership in advocating for the new law.
“The enactment of this legislation is another step forward for pharmacy patient care and for sound public policy,” said NACDS President and CEO Steven C. Anderson, IOM, CAE. “The new law says it best when it requires auditors to ‘not interfere with the delivery of pharmacist services to a patient’ and to ‘utilize every effort to minimize inconvenience and disruption to pharmacy operations.’ The Mississippi legislature and Governor Bryant deserve credit for advancing this pro-patient and pro-pharmacy law.”
NACDS has endorsed federal legislation that seeks to preserve pharmacy choice for patients and takes additional steps to prevent threats to pharmacy patient care. The bipartisan Pharmacy Competition and Consumer Choice Act – S. 1058 and H.R. 1971, sponsored by U.S. Senator Mark Pryor (D-AR) and U.S. Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), respectively – includes provisions requiring transparency by PBMs in pharmacy audits.
The new Mississippi law will be effective July 1, 2012.