The major trade association representing drugstores will launch a large-scale, multimedia ad campaign in the Washington area to raise the industry’s profile in advance of what could be a major national debate next year on health reform.

From March to August, the National Association of Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) plans to blanket the Washington metropolitan region with advertisements in print publications, on radio and in the public-transit system, NACDS President and CEO Steven Anderson announced Monday.

The ads represent part of a broader effort more recently by the NACDS to intensify its presence in Washington and rehabilitate its image among its members and policymakers on Capitol Hill and executive-branch agencies. The group’s budget for the ads is in the range of the “high six figures [to] low seven figures,” a spokeswoman said.

“We are taking the offensive and establishing an increasingly proactive stance,” Anderson said, according to his prepared remarks. “We are turning up the volume on this central message: Pharmacies are essential to healthcare.”

The $750 billion-a-year industry expects to be targeted again this year for cuts in Medicare and Medicaid spending, which will require another concerted lobbying campaign and a public relations push, Anderson said.

Citing the Monday release of President Bush’s fiscal year 2009 budget request, Anderson said, “If past is prologue, we can expect this budget to reflect a potentially devastating devaluation of the role of retail pharmacy. … We need to tell our story.”

In recent years, pharmacies have battled with the Bush administration over drug prices and the fees paid to pharmacists for dispensing medicines to patients enrolled in government-financed healthcare programs like Medicare and Medicaid.

The industry lost a substantial battle in 2005 over reimbursement amounts and has been working since the Democratic takeover to get those cuts reversed.

Anderson also highlighted the importance of healthcare in the current presidential contest and said the drugstore industry must be prepared now for the fight that could be coming after the November elections.

“Whatever the outcome, we will have a new president in January 2009. We will have a new administration. We will have a renewed debate about the future of healthcare in this country. Again, we need to tell our story,” he said.

The centerpieces of the campaign are five ads that will run in inside-the-Beltway publications and in the Metrorail subway cars and stations. Each focuses on one aspect of how pharmacists interact with patients. In addition, the NACDS will purchase airtime on news-talk radio stations during the highly rated rush-hour drive-time timeslot.

The campaign is the product of market research conducted for the NACDS by Harris Interactive. Blue Worldwide, a division of the Edelman public relations firm, designed the ads.

According to Anderson, focus-group research showed that consumers have positive opinions about pharmacists and drugstores but are not clear on the significance of the role they play in healthcare.

“They just hadn’t made the connection that pharmacy is part of the healthcare system and should be treated that way in public policy,” he said.

Also on Monday, the NACDS announced new training and messaging resources to assist its member-pharmacies with grassroots lobbying efforts during this congressional session. Anderson credited pharmacy companies with helping fight back several initiatives opposed by the industry last year, such as a regulation reducing Medicaid drug payments and a law mandating the use of tamper-free prescription pads.