ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The National Association of Chain Drug Stores and the National Community Pharmacists Association hailed the Senate’s passage of a bill to repeal the "onerous" 1099 reporting requirement of the health care reform law.
NACDS and NCPA on Wednesday also urged President Barack Obama to sign the legislation into law, noting that the measure will enable community pharmacists to focus on serving their patients rather than having to deal with extra red tape.
The Senate this week passed the Comprehensive 1099 Taxpayer Protection and Repayment of Exchange Subsidy Overpayments Act (H.R. 4), which repeals the Internal Revenue Service 1099 reporting and paperwork requirement of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Initially introduced by Rep. Daniel Lungren (R., Calif.), the bill passed the Senate by a vote of 87 to 12.
"NACDS applauds Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D., Mont.), and Sens. Mike Johanns (R., Neb.) and Debbie Stabenow (D., Mich.) for their bipartisan leadership in repealing the onerous 1099 reporting requirement," Steve Anderson, president and chief executive officer of NACDS, said in a statement. "The requirement would hinder American businesses — including pharmacies — and mandate the completion of an IRS 1099 form for all business purchases, services and transactions in excess of $600 a year.
"Repealing the burdensome 1099 provision is in the best interest of economic growth and job creation, and permits pharmacies — the face of neighborhood health care — to provide the most accessible and affordable health care services to patients," Anderson added. "Everyone is better served when pharmacy can focus on patients, not paperwork."
The House of Representatives approved the measure on March 3. It now goes to President Obama for his review and signature.
"Community pharmacists commend Congress for passing this bipartisan legislation. This bill will allow local pharmacists to spend more time providing expert medication counseling and care to patients and less time filling out paperwork for the IRS," stated NCPA executive vice president and CEO Douglas Hoey.
"We applaud Sen. Mike Johanns, his bipartisan cosponsors in the Senate and Rep. Dan Lungren and his House colleagues for all their collective efforts to bring this important legislation to the finish line," Hoey said. "We encourage President Obama to sign it into law in the interests of patients and health care providers throughout the country."
Also this week, NACSD issued comments after the release of U.S. Pharmacopeia’s (USP) Proposed General Chapter <17> Prescription Container Labeling recommendations.
In the letter to USP, NACDS highlighted its work with the organization on prescription container labeling and called for greater flexibility and open dialogue with pharmacy and prescriber communities as the review of these recommendations continues.
"The chain pharmacy industry shares the goal of providing prescription container labels that are useful for patients. Our members have devoted significant resources and time to developing prescription container labels that are designed to provide patients with the useful information that they need to take their medications as prescribed,” NACDS stated in the letter.
NACDS also addressed issues with some of the recommendations, including technological issues, cost concerns, legal restrictions, prescriber requirements, container and label size limitations, as well as linguistic challenges. The association noted that providing concise, understandable prescription container labeling can assist patients in adhering to their medication regimens.
"We ask USP to consider outreach and further interaction with prescribers, pharmacies and pharmacists for further discussion and to develop a greater understanding of the issues for pharmacies,” the letter said.
