NACDS files legal brief in case concerning military Tricare program

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Concerns that contracting rules affecting healthcare providers that service Tricare beneficiaries could extend to retail pharmacies has prompted the country’s largest chain pharmacy lobby to file a friend-of-the-court brief in a lawsuit over the regulations.

The National Association of Chain Drug Stores filed an amicus curiae brief in support of the defendant in the case, Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, U.S. Department of Labor v. Florida Hospital of Orlando.

The hospital is appealing a decision by a DoL administrative law judge’s decision that would extend regulations and requirements to some providers that service Tricare beneficiaries, including new record-keeping and employment requirements.

“At a time when the administration and Congress agree that federal rules and regulations need to be seriously reviewed and revised, the DoL’s decision to expand new contractual requirements to Tricare providers seems misguided and misplaced,” NACDS president and CEO Steve Anderson said.

The NACDS filed the brief over concerns that the judge’s decision could create a precedent whereby Tricare-providing pharmacies could be subject to the regulations, even though pharmacies have no contractual obligations to the federal government, and that the regulations could force the pharmacies out of the Tricare system.