'When care is easier to reach, communities are stronger.'

A Vermont pharmacist at a NACDS member company just made the case for H.588 - the new pharmacist test-and-treat law - in VTDigger, the state's largest and most-read newsroom.

In a new op-ed, Steven Simpson - a Kinney Drugs pharmacist of nearly 26 years - lays out what the law will mean for patients in rural communities where timely care can be hard to reach. Signed by Gov. Phil Scott this month following sustained NACDS and member advocacy, H.588 lets pharmacists and trained pharmacy technicians test for and treat common conditions like strep and flu in a single visit. With more than one in four Vermonters now living in a pharmacy desert, that close-to-home access isn't a convenience; it's often the difference between getting care and going without.

This is exactly the kind of advocacy that moves our shared mission forward: a trusted pharmacist, speaking from the front lines, showing what expanded access looks like in the lives of real patients. Simpson also points to the work ahead. Vermont recently secured $195 million in the first year of a federal Rural Health Transformation Program, and he urges the state to direct those dollars toward the equipment, training, and infrastructure that turn H.588's new authority into reliable, sustainable access.

As Simpson puts it: "When care is easier to reach, communities are stronger."