NACDS Board Joins President & HHS Secretary, Stakeholders at White House Launch of New Healthcare Initiative

PRESS RELEASE

Alexandria, Va. — The National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) Board of Directors joined The President and Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Sylvia Burwell today at The White House in launching the Health Care Payment Learning and Action Network

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This initiative brings stakeholders together to share best practices to improve quality and reduce the cost of health care by accelerating health care alternative payment models.

Following the event, NACDS President and CEO Steven C. Anderson, IOM, CAE stated, “We were honored to be included in today’s event at The White House. And we look forward to working with the Administration and other industry stakeholders to promote the value pharmacy and pharmacists bring to advancing patient health and a more efficient health care system. We will continue to highlight the need to ensure pharmacy is included in innovative care delivery models.”

In January, HHS announced plans to increase the use of value-based payments in the Medicare system. As a part of this plan, HHS has set goals that tie increasing percentages of Medicare fee-for-service payments to quality or value through alternative payment models - such as accountable care organizations (ACOs) - annually through 2018.

The Health Care Payment and Learning Action Network will serve as a mechanism to facilitate the sharing and learning of workable value-based payments models. Specifically, the Network will work with stakeholders, including payers, providers, states and consumers groups, to accelerate the adoption of alternative payment methods. Stakeholders, including pharmacy, will collaborate to identify, develop and implement commonsense approaches to move toward alternative payment models employing quality and performance measurement among others.