Reno pharmacist meets with legislators at nation's capital

David Vasenden. a Reno resident and Independent Pharmacy Cooperative (IPC) board member , along with the IPC board and Government Relations Team visited Washington D.C. to meet with legislators about key issues affecting community pharmacy. Vasenden is the owner of Sierra Family Pharmacies, a group of four pharmacies in the Reno/Tahoe area. The IPC team was scheduled to meet with the office of Representative Mark Amodei in an effort to represent the needs of member pharmacies and their customers. IPC has continuously collaborated with other industry stakeholders to pass important community pharmacy legislation. Key issues have included: developing appropriate legislative response to DIR fees, ensuring Medicaid program application; implementing a valid professional dispensing fee and actual acquisition cost based on reimbursement model programs, enacting PBM Enforcement Regulation, and more. “This is a great opportunity for the IPC team to express our need for legislative support and to represent the needs of our members and their communities.” said Mark Kinney, IPC SVP of Government Relations. “It is crucial that we speak for our members and actively work to achieve legislative and public policy successes important to independent pharmacy.” Dating back to 1983, IPC is the nation's largest group purchasing organization owned by independent pharmacy, representing nearly 6,000 members. With locations in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin and Phoenix, Arizona, IPC prides itself on providing access to the most effective programs and services to put profit back into the independent pharmacy. For more information about IPC, go to www.ipcrx.com.