RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. — The National Association of Chain Drug Stores has gone to bat for the value of pharmacist-delivered immunization services in boosting national vaccination rates.
NACDS said Thursday that it submitted a written statement in prelude to a forum hosted by Rep. Renee Ellmers (R., N.C.) at the Hammer Institutes for Health Sciences. The forum, titled "The 21st Century Cures Roundtable: Vaccine Focus," highlighted the importance of vaccinations to public health.
Led by House Committee on Energy and Commerce chairman Fred Upton (R., Mich.) and committee member Rep. Diana DeGette (D., Colo.), the 21st Century Cures Initiative is designed to expedite the discovery, development and delivery process of new drug treatments for patients.
Besides Ellmers and Rep. Michael Burgess (R., Texas), both of whom serve on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, representatives from federal agencies including the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) participated in the panel discussion. Representatives from pharmaceutical companies also participated in the talks.
"Highly educated to provide patient care services, pharmacists are well-suited to help increase vaccination rates and further reduce the incidence of vaccine preventable diseases," NACDS said in its statement.
NACDS also spotlighted the health care savings that pharmacist-provided vaccines yield for patients.
"As demonstrated through the TRICARE program, significant savings were achieved by the Department of Defense when policies were implemented to allow TRICARE beneficiaries to obtain flu and pneumococcal vaccines from retail pharmacies," the association stated.
It was estimated that for the first six months that beneficiaries could obtain their vaccinations from pharmacists, 18,361 vaccines for H1N1, flu and pneumococcal were administered at a cost of nearly $300,000.
NACDS noted that had those vaccines been administered under the medical benefit, the cost to TRICARE would have been $1.8 million. Yet because of the savings, the Department of Defense opted to expand coverage of the portfolio of vaccines that TRICARE beneficiaries may obtain from community pharmacies to include all CDC-recommended vaccines.
In its statement, NACDS also called on policymakers to identify opportunities to further use pharmacists to reach undervaccinated populations, especially in states where laws limit the vaccine services that pharmacists can provide.
"Community pharmacies and pharmacists provide convenient, accessible and cost-effective health services, including immunizations to their local communities," NACDS added.
