Congress tries to exempt pharmacies from DME accreditation requirements

WASHINGTON Two of community pharmacy’s most reliable supporters on Capitol Hill have again stepped into the breach on the industry’s behalf.

Reps. Marion Berry, D-Ark., and Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, are helping to lead an effort in Congress to shield retail pharmacies from new federal requirements on the sale of durable medical equipment [DME] and supplies. Those new rules will require pharmacy retailers to go through a costly application and accreditation process in order to continue selling DME in their stores, under new competitive bidding procedures adopted by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Following a recent decision by CMS not to exempt pharmacies from the new requirements, Berry and Moran, along with 24 of their colleagues, sent a letter to the agency requesting that pharmacies be exempted from the new DME accreditation rules. Pharmacy groups argue the new White House requirements will be too costly and burdensome for drug store operators to comply with, forcing many of them out of the DME business and restricting access to home health supplies for many patients.

Berry, Moran and other congressional supporters agree. In their letter to CMS, they noted, “The Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act [MIPPA] provided CMS with the clear authority to exempt providers of durable medical equipment. MIPPA further clarifies that such providers may be exempt based on their licensing, accreditation or other mandatory quality requirements that may apply.”

Since “pharmacies are licensed and highly regulated under state pharmacy practice laws and regulations,” the lawmakers added, “an accreditation requirement to provide DME to Medicare patients is duplicative and unnecessary, and could threaten Medicare beneficiaries’ access to these products.  In addition, the accreditation process places substantial costs upon pharmacy suppliers, from hundreds of thousands of dollars up to millions of dollars for large pharmacy suppliers.”

The effort in Congress drew strong praise from Steven Anderson, president and chief executive officer of the National Association of Chain Drug Stores. “We commend the tremendous leadership of Reps. Marion Berry and Jerry Moran for urging CMS to exempt pharmacies from burdensome and unfair standards and requirements,” Anderson said.