Public Policy at McKesson

How do we approach healthcare public policy?

Our corporate Public Affairs team operates at the intersection of healthcare, public policy and politics on behalf of McKesson. We establish and strengthen relationships with federal, state and local elected and government officials.

When we engage with legislators and regulators, we educate them on McKesson’s operations, our role in healthcare and the unique perspective we offer. Through tours of our distribution centers and visits to pharmacy and hospital customers, we highlight the many ways McKesson delivers better health across the country.

We also participate in trade associations, industry groups and professional organizations to build key relationships that we can use in our public policy work.

Learn more about our political engagement.

Here’s what we believe

The patient comes first

We should never compromise patient access or quality of care.

Free market competition lowers prices

We need to foster a robust, competitive marketplace, including accelerated regulatory approval pathways for generics and breakthrough drugs.

Informed patients make better consumers

We should empower patients to make informed personal choices based on both clinical benefit and cost.

Patient costs matter

We must ensure that patients directly benefit from any savings in the healthcare system.

We should reward for value

The total cost of care and positive outcomes for patients should drive reimbursement policies.

We need sustainable solutions

We must foster system-wide reform, not simply short-term fixes.

Our public policy priorities

Access to affordable medicines

We recognize the need to improve efficiency in our health care system while reducing patient costs, and we support public policies that foster an affordable, accessible healthcare system that puts patients first.

Connecting the healthcare landscape

Benefit and cost transparency, along with the “un-siloing” or portability of patients’ data, are essential elements to ensuring patient choice, reducing healthcare costs, and improving outcomes.

Promoting community healthcare providers

In the U.S., a shortage of primary care providers and an aging population means quality healthcare can be difficult to access in some areas. We believe community practices and independent pharmacies can play a key role in filling this gap and ensuring patients get the care they need.

Advancing Health Equity

Health equity means everyone has an equal opportunity to live healthy lives. In order to achieve this for every patient, we must end the disparities and inequities impacting patient access, quality of care and outcomes.

Preparing for future emergencies

McKesson’s prominent role in pandemic response has allowed us to observe and develop critical considerations for preparing and responding to future public health emergencies, and creating a resilient supply chain.