ECAPS/Main Street Pharmacy Access Act: Congress Recognizes Pharmacists Delivering Collaborative Patient Care Services

Recent congressional action related to H.R. 3164, the Main Street Pharmacy Access Act—formerly referred to as the Ensuring Community Access to Pharmacist Services Act (ECAPS)—provides encouraging evidence that Congress increasingly understands and recognizes the importance of integrating pharmacists into collaborative care structures to ensure optimal patient outcomes.

With the House Ways and Means Committee advancing H.R. 3164—an unprecedented step forward for the community pharmacy—here’s how ACCP has been working with its colleagues in pharmacy and medicine to help increase patient access to team-based pharmacists’ services.

ACCP's broader Capitol Hill strategy includes engagement with the GOP Doctors Caucus, an informal congressional body of Republican members of Congress with medical and health care provider backgrounds. These conversations provide an opportunity to address questions about the American Medical Association's “scope creep” advocacy campaign and highlight the role of clinical pharmacists in collaborative, team-based care.

In these discussions, ACCP is highlighting the Joint Commission of Pharmacy Practitioners Pharmacists’ Patient Care Process and ACCP's Standards of Practice for Clinical Pharmacists to demonstrate the established processes and standards that guide clinical pharmacists' patient care. ACCP's Washington, DC, team believes this work provides an opportunity to strengthen collaborative advocacy with medical societies, including the AMA.

ACCP and ECAPS/Main Street Pharmacy Access Act

The College’s advocacy success depends on helping policymakers understand the unique value that clinical pharmacists bring to patient care teams. As the ECAPS/Main Street Pharmacy Access Act now moves through the House of Representatives from the Ways and Means Committee to the Energy and Commerce Committee, ACCP will actively be lobbying with its pharmacy colleague organizations to support Medicare coverage for these collaborative, team-based services delivered in community pharmacies.

ACCP-PAC
ACCP-PAC supports candidates who align with ACCP’s mission to advance the profession and improve human health and who have demonstrated leadership on issues important to ACCP members. For more information, visit the ACCP-PAC website at www.accpaction.org or contact John McGlew ([email protected]).