Every time you swipe a customer's credit card in your store, you as the merchant are charged a fee by the credit card companies and banks – and those fees add up quickly, costing you thousands of dollars a year.

NCPA is one of several plaintiffs in a class action suit against Visa and MasterCard to bring changes to their unfair and exorbitant swipe fees and surcharge rules.

A proposed settlement was announced late last year In re Payment Card Interchange Fee and Merchant Discount Antitrust Litigation (MDL 1720), which would offer class members money damages worth approximately three months of interchange fees. The settlement would also make limited changes to certain Visa and MasterCard surcharging rules. The judge overseeing the suit must now decide whether to grant final approval to the settlement.

 Welcome to April. We begin the month with a net member store count of 391, up from 386 at the beginning of March. Our staff continues to refine and find opportunities.

March was Pete Cerula’s first month out in the field on PFOA’s behalf in the Northeast. He has found a number of opportunities in the area and has immediately contributed to our growth in membership as well as program participation. Pete also helped us by attending all vendor meetings at the FPN annual meeting.

Advances were made on the PBM front with marketing material and signed agreements for the joint venture and back end operations. Choice RX is involved in several bid opportunities. A board meeting for Choice RX was held at the tail end of the FPN meeting in Clearwater.

Please check out our "Immunizations" tab for updated news and order forms.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has addressed many of the egregious PBM practices that NCPA has alerted the agency to in the final version of its “call letter”. In the letter, they have addressed:

• Crack Downs on Auto-Ship Refill Programs in Part D
• Sponsors Incentivizing Mail Order
• Reimbursement Issues Surrounding Short-Cycle Dispensing
• Requiring Prior Authorizations for Hospice and ESRD Drugs
• Prior Authorization for Extemporaneous Compounds
• Plan Sponsors Concerning Egregious Audit Practices
• Preferred/Non-Preferred Pharmacy Networks
• CMS addresses preferred network marketing tactics

Below is a preview of the final call letter, including notable wins for community pharmacy.