ACCP Responds to Senate Finance Committee Proposal Seeking Commonsense Policy Options to Lower Drug Prices for Patients
On June 16, 2026, Democrats serving on the Senate Finance Committee with jurisdiction over Medicare issued a stakeholder request for information titled “Commonsense Policy Options to Lower Drug Prices for Patients.” ACCP submitted a statement in response, calling on the Finance Committee to look beyond the price of prescription medications and focus on value, outcomes, and medication optimization.
The College’s comments cite the 2021 National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report that highlights how fragmented care can increase the risk of medication mismanagement because prescribers practice across many care settings. Illness and death resulting from non-optimized medication therapy led to an estimated 275,000 avoidable deaths in 2016, with an economic impact of over $500 billion.1
No effective incentives currently exist in Medicare to support a coordinated medication management service for beneficiaries delivered by an effective interprofessional health care team. Yet particularly for rural communities, access to clinical pharmacy services can help create efficiencies across the entire health delivery system. Clinical pharmacists help deliver enhanced productivity for the entire health care team, allowing other team members to be more efficient in their own patient care responsibilities. Physicians are able to dedicate more time to the diagnostic and treatment selection process, enabling them to be more efficient, see more patients, and spend more time providing medical care. Team members are freed up to practice at the highest level of their own scopes of practice by fully using the qualified clinical pharmacist’s skills and training to coordinate and manage medication therapy as a full team member.
Click here to read ACCP’s comments to the Senate Finance Committee.
Capitol Hill Strategy
ACCP has developed legislative language that would establish coverage for comprehensive clinical pharmacy services in Medicare to integrate clinical pharmacists working as formal members of the patient’s primary health care team, as demonstrated through empirical, peer-reviewed studies and everyday practice, to significantly improve clinical outcomes and enhance the safety of patients’ medication use.
Throughout 2026, working independently and as part of multiorganizational coalitions, ACCP has been holding meetings with leading offices on Capitol Hill that serve on the legislative committees with jurisdiction over Medicare:
- Senate Finance Committee
- House Energy and Commerce Committee
- House Ways and Means Committee
As part of this legislative strategy, ACCP has specifically targeted the GOP Doctors Caucus, an informal congressional body of Republican members of Congress with medical and health care provider backgrounds dedicated to patient-centered health care policy. These medical professionals in Congress work to develop patient-centered, patient-driven health care reforms focused on quality, access, affordability, portability, and choice. Targeting these offices provides ACCP with a forum to respond to questions regarding the “scope creep” advocacy campaign of the American Medical Association.
ACCP-PAC Supports ACCP’s Advocacy Communications
ACCP-PAC is the only federal political action committee dedicated specifically to advancing the practice of clinical pharmacists and the care of their patients. The PAC supports candidates who are aligned with ACCP’s mission to advance the profession and improve human health and who have demonstrated leadership on issues important to ACCP members, such as protecting Medicare funding for pharmacy residencies. Click here to learn more about ACCP-PAC.
ACCP-PAC is the vehicle by which ACCP can provide financial support to help candidates for Congress who understand and support the College’s issues and share its vision of a team-based, patient-centered, quality-driven approach to health care delivery.
ACCP-PAC is a nonpartisan, member-driven initiative, and all decisions regarding financial contributions to candidates are made by the PAC Governing Council on the basis of certain established criteria:
- Position on key health care committees in Congress
- Proven support for pharmacy and health care–related issues
- Previous health care experience
ACCP members who contribute to the PAC may recommend candidates to receive contributions. All PAC contributor recommendations will be considered; however, we may not accommodate all requests. The ACCP-PAC Governing Council must approve all candidate contributions.
For more information, visit the ACCP-PAC website at www.accpaction.org or contact John McGlew ([email protected]).
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 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 regarding the “scope creep” advocacy campaign of the American Medical Association (AMA) 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, D.C., 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]).
Sikora Selected as Next NAM Pharmacy Fellow
The National Academy of Medicine (NAM) has selected 7 outstanding health professionals for the class of 2026 NAM fellowships. The fellows were chosen on the basis of their professional qualifications, reputations, and accomplishments and the relevance of their current field expertise to the work of the NAM and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
ACCP member Andrea Sikora, Pharm.D., MSCR, has been selected for the 2026-2028 NAM Fellowship in Pharmacy. Sikora is an associate professor in the Department of Biomedical Informatics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Reflecting on the potential impact of the fellowship and its alignment with her professional endeavors, Sikora shared:
My sincere belief is that the presence of clinical pharmacists (and their emphasis on the importance of comprehensive clinical pharmacy services) is essential for excellence in health care delivery, research, education, and policy. My passion is grounded by my clinical foundation as a critical care pharmacist, where I regularly worked at the frontiers of medical knowledge participating in life critical, highly complex clinical decision-making. This vision is further informed by my role as a pharmacy educator and clinician-scientist leading a federally funded research program to advance the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to make medication use safer. The NAM Fellowship in Pharmacy presents [an] unparalleled opportunity to actively participate in health- and medicine-related work alongside experts in the field including researchers, policy experts, and clinicians to provide nonpartisan, scientific, and evidence-based advice to national, state, and local policymakers, administrators, and the public. This type of rich learning and mentoring environment is a truly unequaled opportunity to refine leadership skills at a national level.
“The strength of the NAM begins with bringing the right people to the table—those with deep expertise, a commitment to service, and a willingness to work across disciplines to improve health,” said NAM President Monica M. Bertagnolli, noting that the 2026 fellows exemplify these qualities. “I look forward to the perspectives they will bring to our work and to seeing how this experience helps them grow as leaders who can turn evidence into action for people and communities across the country.”
Fellows will continue in their primary academic or research posts while engaging part-time over a 2-year period in the National Academies’ health and science policy work. They will also work with an expert study committee or roundtable related to their professional interests, including contributing to reports or other products. A flexible research grant will be awarded to each fellow. The overall purpose of the NAM fellowship program is to enable talented health science scholars to participate actively in the work of the NAM and the National Academies and to further their careers as future leaders in the field.
Grassroots Call for Action: Tell Congress That Medicare Beneficiaries Need Access to Medication Optimization Services
As part of its ongoing legislative advocacy efforts, ACCP is currently working with the GOP Doctors Caucus, an informal congressional body of Republican members of Congress with medical and health care provider backgrounds dedicated to patient-centered health care policy. The caucus often provides meaningful guidance to congressional Republican leadership. It’s natural that leaders in Congress listen to their colleagues with health care backgrounds and, more importantly, listen to constituents who are health care professionals. That’s why we need you to get involved. Click here to write to Congress and explain why Medicare coverage should include access to comprehensive clinical pharmacy services.
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]).
Advancing Medication Optimization: ACCP Recommends Enhancements to NCQA’s Draft Advanced Primary Care Standards
ACCP recently submitted comments on the Advanced Primary Care (APC) accreditation standards proposed by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), expressing strong support for including medication management while urging NCQA to place greater emphasis on medication optimization as a core goal of advanced primary care. ACCP recommended that the standards adopt comprehensive medication management (CMM) as the framework for achieving medication optimization, ensuring that every medication is assessed for appropriateness, effectiveness, safety, and adherence.
ACCP also encouraged NCQA to recognize the important role of clinical pharmacists as integrated members of interdisciplinary primary care teams and to strengthen references to CMM throughout the accreditation standards. The recommendations are intended to better align the APC program with evidence-based, team-based care models that improve patient outcomes, enhance safety, and reduce total cost of care.
Read ACCP’s full comments on the proposed NCQA Advanced Primary Care Accreditation Standards here.
Reference
- National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Implementing high-quality primary care: rebuilding the foundation of health care. The National Academies Press; 2021. https://doi.org/10.17226/25983