NCPA goes on record on PBM games
By HME News Staff
Updated 10:29 AM CDT, Thu July 15, 2021
ALEXANDRIA, Va. – The National Community Pharmacists Association, as part of a congressional hearing on Tuesday, submitted a statement on the record pushing the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust and Consumer Rights to scrutinize the role of vertically integrated for-profit companies that have affiliated with pharmacy benefit managers. “The ability of PBMs to game the system not only results in the closure of pharmacies in rural and underserved communities but increased costs for the patient at the point of sale,” wrote the NCPA in its statement to Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., chair of the subcommittee. In its statement, the NCPA specifically recommended that U.S. agencies with enforcement authority increase their focus on anti-competitive transactions involving vertical consolidation of health care organizations, rather than almost exclusively on horizontal theories of harm, and provide additional oversight of pharmaceutical formularies and the “rebate wall” games that can wreak havoc on costs for patients and incentivize PBMs to select higher-priced drugs for their formulary. Senators who spoke at the hearing on their concerns with PBMs were Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., according to the association.
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