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Pharmacy organizations and AMA issue joint statement in support of patients’ access to medically necessary medications
The AMA, American Pharmacists Association (APhA), American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP), and National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) last week issued a joint statement highlighting their concern about state laws that limit patients’ access to medically necessary medications and impede physicians and pharmacists from using their professional judgment.
Following the U.S. Supreme Court Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision, physicians, pharmacists and other health care professionals face a confusing legal landscape due to state laws’ lack of clarity, confusing language and unknown implementation by regulatory and enforcement bodies. This includes many questions about how broadly state laws will be interpreted and the impact of these actions on physicians’ and pharmacists’ ability to serve the needs of their patients.
Physicians and pharmacists need clear guidance from state boards of medicine and pharmacy, agencies and policymakers to support the prescribing and dispensing of medically necessary medications that may be affected by this new legal and regulatory paradigm. Without such guidance, the organizations emphasized that they are deeply concerned that patients will lose access to care and suffer irreparable harm.
Read the full statement.
