You hand your pharmacist the prescription, or maybe it’s sent electronically. There’s some behind-the-scenes activity and the pharmacist has you on your way. But if you lingered to ask, what would your pharmacist say are simple fixes to some big health care problems?

Independent community pharmacists are in Washington this week to discuss achieving better health care. Here is what they would likely say about that.

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Prescription drug coverage is too complicated, especially for those who need it most – seniors and others on Medicare.

Many patients have difficulty choosing a Medicare Part D drug plan and do not grasp the nuances and fine print until it’s too late. Then confusion and frustration set in. For example, some drug plans steer patients to use a “preferred” pharmacy without providing convenient access to one. Federal Medicare officials recently documented a significant access problem in urban areas. Those in rural towns may have to drive 20 miles or more to reach a “preferred pharmacy”.

To mitigate this problem without increasing costs, allow Medicare beneficiaries in underserved areas to use their pharmacy of choice, so long as it accepts the terms and conditions (reimbursement, etc.) offered by the drug plan. The bipartisan Ensuring Seniors Access to Local Pharmacies Act (H.R. 793 / S. 1190) would enact this policy.

Leading consumer and health advocates support it including the AIDS Institute; the Alliance for Retired Americans; Center for Medicare Advocacy, Inc.; Families USA; HealthHIV; Justice in Aging (formerly National Senior Citizens Law Center); LeadingAge; Medicare Rights Center; National Consumers League; National Grange; National Rural Health Association; and US Pain Foundation.

Many patients with chronic conditions fall through cracks in health care that pharmacists could help fill in coordination with primary care physicians.

The Medicare population and those with health insurance coverage are both increasing. This is expected to further stretch our already-strained physicians. Community pharmacists are in many underserved inner-city and rural areas. They can partner with doctors to coordinate care and expand access to essential health services like monitoring chronic diseases; medication management and counseling; immunizations; and health screenings to identify new conditions.

The Pharmacy and Medically Underserved Areas Enhancement Act (H.R. 592 / S. 314) would expand patient access to these and other health care services in medically underserved areas of the country.

To safeguard patient access to medication, federal health plan reimbursements to pharmacies should keep pace with prescription drug costs.

Community pharmacists are dedicated health care providers. To continue providing care their pharmacies must cover their costs.

Pharmacies lose hundreds of dollars filling many prescriptions for generic drugs. That’s because the drug costs may skyrocket 1,000 percent or more virtually overnight, but federal health plans’ private-sector middlemen may wait months to adjust reimbursement rates to keep pace. The problem has grown to the point of impacting patient access to medication as many pharmacies can no longer afford to stock certain medications due to these financial losses.

Bipartisan legislation has been introduced (H.R. 244) to require that reimbursement benchmarks are updated by the middlemen (known as pharmacy benefit managers or PBMs) to keep pace with market trends.

Pharmacists are among the most trusted professionals, working on the front lines to improve public health and access to health care services. To support that continuing work, we encourage all Members of Congress to cosponsor these pro-patient, pro-pharmacist measures and bring them to the floor for consideration as soon as possible.

Hoey is CEO of the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA).