Advocacy and Outreach

Membership | Advocacy & Outreach

LIPA Advocacy | Our Mission

LIPA works to build and maintain relationships with state and federal policymakers whose legislative decisions directly affect the roles and responsibilities of pharmacies.

Collaborative work on critical pieces of legislation, for example: addressing delayed reimbursement (Prompt Pay) and allow pharmacies to realize tax savings (Occupational License Tax Limit & Sales Tax Exemption).

LIPA's advocacy goal is to educate the public on the important role that Louisiana's independent pharmacies play in the day-to-day healthcare of patients in their community.

LIPA Advocacy | Partnerships

LIPA partners with government agencies to ensure Louisiana pharmacies are equipped and prepared to meet the needs of their patients in any situation, including natural disasters and Public Health Emergencies. We are regularly looking for opportunities to return viability and revenue to our pharmacies. Our goal is to help the pharmacies market themselves in their communities while also maintaining their role as reliable healthcare providers by participating in programs that return additional revenue to the pharmacies - in most cases greater than the LIPA dues they are paying each month.

Medicaid Unwinding

LDH recognizes that pharmacies are ideally situated to assist their Medicaid patients who continue to qualify, in successfully navigating their upcoming annual renewal of eligibility. We've entered into an arrangement with LDH/Medicaid to recruit, engage, and support independent pharmacies with training, resources, and ongoing technical assistance to help achieve the State’s stated goal that no eligible person has their Medicaid case closed during this year long renewal process.

LIPA has worked with our partners, the LDH and People Care, to develop a “menu” of outreach activities that independent pharmacies can provide and receive compensation to cover their costs. This is a “win-win” for both your patients and your pharmacy.

Services do not have to be provided by a pharmacist or pharmacy technician. See qualifications for Medicaid “Trusted Users” here.

For more information, we have prepared a list of anticipated Questions and Answers. Interested pharmacies can apply online by clicking here

If you have questions, please reach out to Ruth Kennedy who will be serving as the Project Director for this initiative at 225-241-1437 or via e-mail at kennedy@peoplecarela.com or kennedy@lipa.org

Louisiana Pharmacists Association

Value: $150/year per member

LIPA membership benefits include paid membership in the Louisiana Pharmacy Association. LPA members have access to Continuing Pharmacy Education and Professional Development, networking, and many other valuable resources.

LIPA is a major sponsor of LPA’s Annual Convention, which provides a significant opportunity for interaction between pharmacy providers, LPA members, and other registered professionals in Louisiana. Our members report that these benefits of LPA membership are of great importance.

National Community Pharmacists Association

Value: $435/year per member

LIPA membership benefits include paid membership in the National Community Pharmacists Association, our federal partner. NCPA members are connected to over 19,400 other member pharmacies, receive additional CPE opportunities, and are well-represented on all fronts at the national level. NCPA offers its members diversified revenue opportunities, grassroots tool kits, marketing materials, and more.

NCPA has been integral to the success of pharmacy legislation. We’ve seen dozens of bills introduced to Congress this year that LIPA and NCPA have collaborated closely on. NCPA’s current advocacy priorities include promoting PBM transparency, prohibiting spread pricing, and ensuring Medicare payments for enhanced pharmacist services. The support of Louisiana independent pharmacists is highly valuable to NCPA.

LIPA members can also connect directly with NCPA representatives to voice their concerns. They’ve attended LPA conventions, LIPA Board meetings, and more events where we have all gathered recently. The annual NCPA conference is also an invaluable opportunity to connect with community pharmacists around the country.

Pharmacies, especially independents, are confronted with the most difficult challenges the industry has ever seen. The survival of local pharmacies is essential to the vitality of your community. Taking advantage of this LIPA membership benefit means you have access to all the business tools, education, and federal and state advocacy efforts you may need.

Independent Rx PAC

We want to make sure you’re aware of the LIPA-affiliated Political Action Committee (PAC), Independent Rx, that assists candidates who will fight to protect Louisiana pharmacies and patients alike. This PAC is organized in Louisiana and has regularly supported candidates for statewide and legislative offices.

Your LIPA staff, board, and members contribute to the PAC. 2023 has been a critical year with important elections, making it even more vital that we all step up and contribute to the Independent Rx PAC to ensure the right candidates are supported. While we know that you may be donating to these candidates already, PAC contributions are a valuable way to show unified support behind a candidate.

We encourage you to inform the LIPA team of your opinion on these candidates and their stances on issues to help guide the support that we’re offering to any candidates.

LIPA Advocacy | Legislative Efforts

Federal Trade Commission

Until last year, the Federal Trade Commission had taken little to no action to regulate anticompetitive practices, especially relating to PBMs.

When they announced in June of 2022 that they would be conducting a Section 6(b) investigation of PBMs, LIPA staff and members began preparing relevant information to support their investigation. This 6(b) study allows the FTC to dive into the most notable PBMs without a specific law enforcement purpose.

LIPA also utilized to great effect the public comment period offered by the FTC. In a collaborative effort with our federal partners at NCPA, LIPA has played an integral role in the FTC investigation. We have been able to discuss PBM unfair practices in more detail with the FTC and have shown the importance of independent pharmacies and how PBMs work to damage the impact of these independents.

We have clearly made great progress with this FTC investigation as they plan to enforce fair competition and police PBM practices much more closely now and in the future.

Federal Work | Congress

LIPA members, particularly the board members and your staff, have been very focused on legislation pending in the halls of Congress, including multiple pieces that have already been introduced in our State Legislature as well as several other states.

Just this year, several bills that your LIPA team has worked on, including legislation from Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA), passed the US Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee following testimony from the CEOs of Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, and Sanofi, along with senior leadership of each of the three big PBMs.

The work pharmacists have done over the last decade to bring attention to PBMs, and their shell-game tactics that increase costs to patients across the country, are finally bearing some fruit. We’ve got to stay on track to ensure that we are attentive to the potential changes to legislation through amendments and other considerations; the introduction of legislation is just a start.

Just as you have frequently stepped up and come to the state capitol, you have LIPA board members and staff regularly working on this legislation nationally and in other states. We work with other states to show that our pharmacists can cooperate and that our challenges are not limited to one area or one state. Sharing the widespread impact of these issues is essential to encourage our federal government to recognize the need for action.

Louisiana State Legislature

LIPA has been active and engaged with the Louisiana State Legislature for nearly 20 years. Achievements in the legislature include:

Prompt pay laws
Requiring PBMs to be regulated by the state through LDI
Any-willing-provider provisions to increase patient access in the Medicaid program
A cap on the occupational license tax fee at an amount less than $2,000 for independent community pharmacists
The prohibition of claw backs that are not apparent at the POS
PBM audit guard rails
The ability to offer the cash price as a lower cost alternative
Decline to fill
Requiring PBMs to provide and update MAC lists
The expansion of unfair trade practices by PBMs and the regulation thereof.

Louisiana Dept of Health

Since its inception, LIPA has worked closely with public officials from the Louisiana Department of Health, including several working for the state’s Medicaid Program.

Through collaboration with LA Medicaid, CMS, and other stakeholders, Louisiana was able to pass State Plan Amendments to discuss matters of interest to our membership, such as ingredient cost reimbursement concerns, inflationary adjustments for the professional dispensing fee, standalone vaccine counseling, and recommended protocol for denied pharmacy claims when a prescriber is rejected due to enrollment status.

Additionally, LIPA sent a letter to the Medicaid Director and the LDH Pharmacy Director in June of 2022 after several member pharmacies reported high credentialing fees from PBMs in the MCO space to be credentialed in their networks.

Occupational License Tax Limit

With R.S. 47:359(K): "For each business

licensed by the Louisiana State Board of

Pharmacy as a pharmacy and eighty

percent of gross revenues of the business

comes from the filling of prescription

drugs, the license shall be one-tenth of

one percent of the gross annual sales of

the total business activity, with a

minimum tax of fifty dollars and a

maximum tax of two thousand dollars..."

Without R.S. 47:359(K): "For every fixed

location retail dealer in merchandise,

services, and rentals, including but not

limited to all businesses enumerated in

this Section, the license shall be based on

the total business activity and shall be

based on the table below:"

Louisiana Department of Insurance

LIPA regularly interacts with the Louisiana Department of Insurance on a variety of matters. The LIPA team often meets with the Commissioner and LDI staff concerning suspicious activities we see PBMs engaged in across our state.

Over the last year, we have had ongoing discussions with the Commissioner regarding over 90,000 complaints we filed on behalf of our pharmacies detailing the various ways we believe Express Scripts has violated Louisiana law and conducted its business with independent pharmacies poorly.

Such violations include, but are not limited to:

paying claims outside the prompt pay window;
failing to pay the $.10 provider fee, and;
failing to list adjustments on a claim-by-claim basis.

Fines Levied:

Express Scripts: $275,000 to date
MedImpact: $250,000 to date

Consequently, LDI submitted a Cease & Desist to Express Scripts following their admission of guilt regarding over 1.2 million prompt pay violations. LDI reports this investigation is ongoing, so we are hopeful that more will be brought to light.

Legislative Efforts

Membership | Advocacy & Outreach

LIPA Advocacy | Our Mission

LIPA Advocacy | Partnerships

LIPA Advocacy | Legislative Efforts

Federal Trade Commission

Federal Work | Congress

Increased Dispensing Fee from $10.13-->$10.51

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

Collaborative efforts between LIPA and the LDH to get State Plan Amendments approved by CMS:

Increased Dispensing Fee from $10.41-->$10.99

Increased Dispensing Fee from $10.99-->$11.81

NADAC + Professional Dispensing Fee Reimbursement Methodology

Louisiana State Legislature

Louisiana Dept of Health

Occupational License Tax Limit

Louisiana Department of Insurance