Ensuring Community Access to Pharmacist Services Act
Introduced May 1, 2025 · Last action May 21, 2026
Plain English Summary
This bill allows Medicare to pay for certain services provided by pharmacists, starting January 1, 2026. Pharmacists can be paid for evaluating and treating patients for COVID-19, flu, RSV, strep throat, and other services during public health emergencies, if state law permits and a doctor supervises or collaborates with them. Medicare will cover 80% of these services (or 100% during public health emergencies), and pharmacists cannot charge patients extra amounts above Medicare's approved rates.
Who benefits
Community pharmacies and pharmacists (primary beneficiaries who gain revenue from Medicare reimbursement for newly covered services); Medicare beneficiaries aged 65+ and disabled individuals (who gain access to pharmacist services with insurance coverage); rural communities and areas with physician shortages (where pharmacists can expand care access); physicians and practitioners (who benefit from delegating certain routine testing and management services to supervising pharmacists)
Who pays / loses
Medicare program and its trust fund (bears new costs for pharmacist services); taxpayers funding Medicare (indirectly bear program expansion costs); competing retail and mail-order pharmacy chains (face revenue redistribution if some pharmacies gain preferred access); hospitals and urgent care centers (potential loss of revenue from patients redirected to pharmacist-provided services)
Funding & Lobbying Interests
Community pharmacy chains and independent pharmacists (primary lobbying interest in expanding reimbursable services); pharmacy trade associations (American Pharmacists Association, National Community Pharmacists Association, trade groups representing chain pharmacies); technology vendors serving pharmacies (seek integration with Medicare billing systems); physician organizations that support team-based care models under physician supervision (approve expansion if it reduces their workload for routine services)
Sponsor
Sponsor information not available.
Vote Record
No recorded votes.
Campaign Finance — Primary Sponsor
No campaign finance data available yet.
501(c)(4) disclosure: Contributions from 501(c)(4) "dark money" organizations are not required to be publicly disclosed and are not reflected in the figures above. Data sourced from FEC public disclosure filings.
Share this bill