For decades, New Mexico pharmacists faced a seemingly insurmountable barrier to advancing pharmacy practice in the state. Building on the foundation of countless years of hard work and steadfast perseverance, representatives of the New Mexico Society of Health-System Pharmacists, the New Mexico Pharmacists Association, and the University of New Mexico College of Pharmacy forged a coalition to enact legislation to improve patient access to pharmacists’ primary care services.
The coalition mobilized grassroots support, provided testimonies in committee hearings, and engaged with legislators and local lobbyists to forge a pathway for pharmacist clinicians to claim reimbursement for primary care and specialty care services.
Their joint effort resulted in the February 2020 passage of H.B. 42, The Pharmaceutical Services Reimbursement Parity, in the New Mexico legislature. The law expands access to healthcare by enabling pharmacist clinicians and other pharmacists with prescriptive authority to be reimbursed for clinical services. Further, it creates the opportunity for clinics, healthcare systems, and community pharmacies to improve patient access to primary care, including in rural and frontier communities that lack access to other healthcare providers.