NCPA welcomes passage of PBM reforms
By HME News Staff
Updated 9:59 AM CST, Wed February 4, 2026
ALEXANDRIA, Va. – The National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) applauds the passage of a bill of Feb. 3 to fund the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that it says contains the first meaningful federal reforms to pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) practices. The new law:
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Requires the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to define and enforce “reasonable and relevant” Medicare Part D contract terms;
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Promotes transparency by allowing CMS to track payment trends to pharmacies and pharmacy inclusion in PBM networks, including a new designation of essential retail pharmacies; and
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Prohibits PBM compensation in Medicare Part D from being tied to the manufacturer’s list price of a drug in an effort to reduce drug prices and save money for taxpayers.
“Community pharmacy owners are the canary in the coal mine when it comes to federal or state prescription programs,” said NCPA CEO B. Douglas Hoey, pharmacist. “For years, our members and we have been telling anyone who will listen — and worked to convince others who wouldn’t listen — about the PBM-insurer conglomerates gobbling up market share, driving up drug costs, crushing small-business pharmacies, and making it more difficult for patients to receive the care they need. We’ve been warning that unless action is taken, more pharmacies will close, and more pharmacy deserts will grow. Unfortunately, as time passed, we were proven correct and finally, there is action to help reverse these trends.”
There have been several PBM reform bills introduced in Congress, including:
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