This presentation examines the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and its quantitative impact on retail pharmacies, with a focus on drug price negotiations, Maximum Fair Prices (MFPs), and resulting cash-flow and working-capital pressures. Leveraging Inmar Intelligence data across 35 pharmacy chains, it illustrates how IRA-designated drugs will represent a growing share of sales while extending receivable timelines and increasing operational complexity. The presentation also includes an overview on the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA), summarizing the impact to date on dispensers, including interoperability readiness, exception handling, and ongoing compliance challenges since the November 27, 2025 final milestone.

During this session Jim DaVita of NABP shares their organization’s new Retail Innovation Institute to test new pharmacy technologies and Harry Travis demonstrates how AI can be used in each of the ten steps to fill a prescription and how AI Agents will be able to link these activities in the future to ensure accuracy.

This session provides a timely overview of key Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) regulatory developments heading into 2026, with a focus on issues directly impacting pharmacy operations and compliance. Attendees will explore DEA’s evolving regulatory agenda, including proposed and final rules issued during 2025, and how federal policy shifts—such as executive orders and regulatory freeze actions—may influence pending regulations.

Speakers will break down the latest on telemedicine, including extensions of flexibilities through December 31, 2026, the status of DEA’s proposed special registration framework, and the added burdens these rules could create for dispensing pharmacies.

The session will also examine marijuana rescheduling proceedings, potential implications of Schedule III placement, and what rescheduling could mean for pharmacy practice and corresponding responsibility obligations.

Finally, the presentation reviews current DEA enforcement priorities, including continued emphasis on “red flags.”

This session explores the transformation from traditional reimbursement models to cost-based frameworks, driven by regulatory momentum, government mandates, and market demand. We will examine how evolving benchmarks, acquisition-cost methodologies, and compliance requirements are reshaping pharmacy economics.

Attendees will gain a clear understanding of why changes to the National Drug Code (NDC) are underway, and the regulatory and operational drivers behind the transition.