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The Express Scripts decision removes the option for Tricare beneficiaries to get prescriptions at the pharmacies of their choice. The National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) CEO B. Douglas Hoey, PharmD, MBA, warns that “access to needed medications for Tricare beneficiaries is in peril.”

This decision is estimated to impact hundreds of thousands of beneficiaries relying on certain pharmacies (or locations) to get prescriptions—those who cannot get their prescription at the pharmacy of their choice may fall out of care.

Consequently, patients may lose access to the potentially lifesaving treatments that specialty and independent pharmacies can provide, especially for patients with critical illnesses such as HIV, among other illnesses.

In a recent analysis, experts suggested that the contract, made with the US Department of Defense (DOD), could shrink the retail pharmaceutical network by 15,000 pharmacies.