The CMS Administrator makes the case for expanded pharmacist test-and-treat authority — as more states enact it.

The test-and-treat wins keep coming. Among the latest: New Hampshire's HB 1735, signed last week, establishing a pharmacist standard of care for testing and treatment. Vermont's H.588 and Arizona's SB 1713 have also been signed into law. And in Alaska, HB 195 became law after the legislature overrode the governor's veto.

The federal government is making the same case.

In an interview with The National News Desk, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz opened his argument for rural America with a fact our members know well: "There's a pharmacist within five miles of almost every single American."

Access like that matters most where the nearest physician is an hour's drive. Dr. Oz's remedy is the one more and more states are adopting: "If we can get pharmacies to function at the height of their licensure, allow them to do testing - for example, for strep throat - then a mom whose kids are not feeling well can go to the local pharmacy three miles away, get the strep test, get the antibiotics at the pharmacy…"

He placed it squarely inside the administration's priorities: "The president has been crystal clear that he wants rural America protected."

When the nation's top Medicare and Medicaid official describes the neighborhood pharmacy as the front door to care, it strengthens every conversation NACDS and our members are having in the states - and it reinforces our work in Congress as we advocate for passage of the Main Street Pharmacy Access Act (also known as ECAPS) to ensure Medicare