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D.C. sniper Muhammad executed for 2002 attacks- John Allen Muhammad, the mastermind behind the sniper attacks that left 10 dead, was executed Tuesday night as relatives of the victims watched, reliving the killing spree that terrorized the Washington metro area for three weeks in October 2002.
Blame game erupts over probe of Fort Hood suspect- Finger-pointing erupted between federal agencies Tuesday over Fort Hood shooting suspect Nidal Hasan. Government officials said a Defense Department terrorism investigator looked into Hasan's contacts with a radical imam months ago, but a military official denied prior knowledge of the Army psychiatrist's contacts with any Muslim extremists.
Police: Man opens fire at Ore. lab, killing woman- A man opened fire with a rifle Tuesday at a drug-testing laboratory in suburban Portland, killing a female employee and wounding two other workers before fatally shooting himself, police said. The gunman and the dead woman apparently had a "relationship," Tualatin Police Chief Kent Barker said. He did not elaborate.
Bill Clinton urges Senate passage of health bill- Former President Bill Clinton urged Senate Democrats on Tuesday to pass health care legislation by year's end, pointedly telling skittish lawmakers that an imperfect bill is preferable to another failure like the one he and the party endured in 1994.
US imam wanted in Yemen over al-Qaida suspicions- A radical American imam who communicated with the Fort Hood shooting suspect and called him a hero was once arrested in Yemen on suspicion of giving religious approval to militants to conduct kidnappings. Yemeni authorities are now hunting for Anwar al-Awlaki to determine whether he has al-Qaida ties.
White House: Obama weighs 4 options in Afghanistan- President Barack Obama is considering four options for realigning U.S. strategy in Afghanistan, his spokesman said Tuesday, while military officials said the choices involve several ways the president could employ additional U.S. forces next year.
- Police said an East Texas man has outsmarted himself in trying to get a quicker response from officers to an alleged assault. Tyler police said 38-year-old Mark Anthony Johnson called 911 on Monday night and reported that he'd just committed a homicide and was armed with a weapon.
- Vin Scully said Tuesday he will continue in the broadcast booth for the Los Angeles Dodgers through the 2010 season, then decide whether he will walk away.
NCPA Statement on Bogus PCMA Study About Cost to Fix Medicare Part D
ALEXANDRIA, Va.
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ALEXANDRIA, Va.,
"PCMA's newly-released, so-called study barely passes the laugh test. In it, PricewaterhouseCooper appears to have been commissioned to obtain information from five PBMs to determine if paying pharmacies on time will affect their profitability. You get what you pay for, and since the study's objective was to highlight the supposed cost of prompt payment compliance, the results were predictably supportive of that premise. Throwing out these bogus numbers as a way of scaring Congress is both desperate and really undermines what little credibility the PBM industry ever had.
"The intent of the Medicare Part D prescription program was not for PBMs to aggressively exploit the lack of reimbursement timing standards. The Medicaid program is able to reimburse pharmacies in a timely fashion without its administrative cost swelling. Why would prompt payment create such a financially onerous administrative hassle for the multi-billion dollar, publicly-traded PBMs, who surely have the capability to make the adjustment? While their earnings soar, community pharmacies are experiencing a financial crunch that was pivotal in causing five percent of these small businesses to close in 2006 -- the first year the program was put in place -- after years of stability. PBM profiteering is causing a patient access problem.
"Passing H.R. 1474 in the House and S. 1954 in the Senate is the right thing to do and the prospects for action before Congress adjourns this year are good. Community pharmacies want to be able to serve their Part D patients in the best way possible, but PBMs reimbursement practices make that increasingly more and more challenging and should end no matter how many number-fudging studies they tout."
To learn more about a truly independent study that demonstrates the severity of the Part D reimbursement problem go to: http://www.ncpanet.org/pdf/leg/ut_study_exec_sum_090607.pdf
The National Community Pharmacists Association, founded in 1898, represents the nation's community pharmacists, including the owners of more than 23,000 pharmacies. The nation's independent pharmacies, independent pharmacy franchises, and independent chains dispense nearly half of the nation's retail prescription medicines. To learn more go to http://www.ncpanet.org.
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