US pharmacists and chain drugstores sue govt over Medicare Rx Plan

The US National Association of Chain Drugstores and the NationalCommunity Pharmacists Association have filed suit against Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson, and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Thomas Scully, over the Bush administration's new Medicare Prescription Drug Discount Card Program (Marketletter July 23).

The suit, filed in the US District Court in the District of Columbia, cites a lack of legislative authority on the part of the HHS Secretary and CMS Administrator, violation of the Administrative Procedures Act and the Federal Advisory Committee Act and an unlawful delegation of regulatory power to a private consortium. It says that, under the administration's plan as it stands:

- administration-appointed, Medicare-approved pharmacy benefit managers, "middlemen who neither buy or sell medicines," will vie for the right to be part of a consortium that will administer the plan. Consortium members are allowed to charge seniors for the cards, review the feasibility of a community pharmacy to participate in the plan, create drug formularies and steer seniors to their own Internet and mail-order pharmacies; - standards for the consortium, as set by the HHS and CMS, include the education of the general public and review of applications and marketing materials produced by the PBMs, and set priorities for community pharmacy participation; and - Medicare recipients buy their discount card from the participating PBM and submit it to a participating pharmacy when buying medicines, often not receiving any discount or the medicine they were originally prescribed. Participating pharmacies are forced to sell the drugs at a discounted rate, regardless of the price they pay. If the pharmacy does not participate in the plan, the Medicare recipient is forced to buy drugs by mail-order, thus denying access to the pharmacist's professional care.