Our Legislative and Policy Issues

At any given time, we are navigating hundreds of issues that have direct impacts on the work you do every day. These are a few of the top issues we are facing right now:

• Opioid Safety
• Organized Retail Crime
• Data Privacy
• DIR Fee Reform
• Provider Status

Opioid Safety

Walgreens is leading the fight against the opioid crisis through programs designed to help ensure appropriate use and safe disposal, while offering customers innovative and personalized pain management therapy options as an alternative to opioids.

Opioids are estimated to cause more than 130 overdose deaths every day in the U.S., with an additional 2 million people suffering from opioid abuse and dependence. At Walgreens, our priority is to empower our patients from living a life with pain to leading better lives.

Opioids One-Pager

Organized Retailed Crime

Legislative solutions are needed to mitigate the online sale of stolen and counterfeit products and to promote transparency and accountability—ensuring consumers have trust in the safety and quality of the products they purchase online. We support legislative solutions that include two key principles, including:

• Promoting accountability Online marketplaces should be accountable for the activity on their platforms and ensure only legitimate goods are sold by verified sellers.
• Promoting transparency Consumers deserve to know from whom and where they are buying products in order to make safe, informed purchasing decisions for themselves and their families.
  

Organized Retail Crime One-Pager

Data Privacy

The healthcare landscape is rapidly changing, and patients and providers interact in ways dramatically different from the past. This change is especially apparent in retail pharmacies that aim to create a seamless experience for our customers in which their healthcare and consumer needs are met and their data protected.

With the implementation of the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and an increasing number of other states in various stages on consumer privacy legislation, it is imperative for policymakers to develop a federal solution to align and improve consumer and patient privacy protections.

Data Privacy One-Pager

DIR Fee Reform

Walgreens maintains two guiding principles on drug pricing:

• Drug prices must be transparent as they move through the supply chain and are ultimately dispensed to patients
• Savings must be passed on to patients at the pharmacy counter to lower their OOP costs

However, direct and indirect remuneration (DIR) are opaque transactions and fees that impact the final cost of a drug, which can increase patients’ out-of-pocket drug costs. DIR fees include manufacturer rebates and pharmacy price concessions negotiated and collected by PBMs on behalf of plans. Rebate negotiations are generally confidential and can be related to network participation and pharmacy performance arrangements.

A more transparent, full pass-through approach is necessary to help eliminate the perverse incentives that currently exist in the Medicare Part D program. By doing so, the true cost of a drug would be reflected at the pharmacy counter, lowering out-of-pocket costs for patients and increasing prescription adherence. In addition, Walgreens supports standardized performance metrics that drive pharmacy and patient quality outcomes rather than tying it to a drug’s negotiated price.  

DIR Fee Reform One-Pager

Provider Status

At Walgreens, we know that pharmacists do more than dispense pills. They are key professionals in healthcare delivery, helping patients manage a wide-range of chronic diseases and providing key point-of-care tests and immunizations. Walgreens strongly supports federal legislation to expand access to Medicare beneficiaries by recognizing pharmacists as non-physician providers and allowing pharmacists to practice at the fullest extent of their education and training.

Provider Status One-Pager

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