Tag: PBMs

HONOLULU – The American Medical Association decided at its interim meeting here to recommend that third-party administrators of specialty pharmacy benefits be included in state and federal oversight efforts of prescription drug middlemen. Regulation of pharmacy benefit managers is on the rise in response to concerns that they can have a detrimental impact on the ability of patients to access affordable prescription drugs and, for specialty pharmacy benefits, TPAs provide many of the same services,...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – The National Community Pharmacists Association has announced the keynote speakers for its 2022 Annual Convention, set for Oct. 1-4 in Kansas City, Mo. The theme for this year’s convention is “Team Up! Where Teamwork Makes It All Work.” Mike Abrashoff, former commander of the USS Benfold and author of three books, is scheduled to speak during the First General Session on Sunday, Oct. 2. Abrashoff was the most-junior officer in the Pacific Fleet when he took...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A letter signed by 207 organizations supports the Pharmacy Benefit Manager Transparency Act, S.4293, and asks Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to bring it for a full vote in the Senate. The bill, which was introduced by Sens. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, in May, passed the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation in June. “We applaud the recent efforts of the Commerce Committee to advance S. 4293 on a bipartisan...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – The Federal Trade Commission should sue to block Prime Therapeutics LLC/Express Scripts from acquiring Magellan RX Management, says the National Community Pharmacists Association in a letter to Holly Vedova, director to the FTC’s Bureau of Competition. If the merger were to proceed, it would allow Express Scripts/Prime to steer patients even more easily to its own mail-order pharmacies for specialty drugs and potentially supply it with valuable insight into claims-level...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Constant efforts by independent pharmacy stakeholders have unleashed a “tidal wave” of activity to reform pharmacy benefit managers, says Matthew Seiler, general counsel for the National Community Pharmacists Association.  In June, the Federal Trade Commission announced it would initiate a formal study of PBM behavior and the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation voted to advance the Pharmacy Benefit Manager Transparency Act introduced...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – The National Community Pharmacists Association is launching a new resource to help pharmacists and patients report possible violations of pharmacy benefit manager regulations to state insurance regulators and push them to enforce the laws on the books. “There have been great strides forward in recent years with comprehensive state PBM reforms and court victories, but patients, small-business pharmacies and taxpayers aren’t seeing all of this progress when regulators...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Health insurance plans and their pharmacy benefit managers shouldn’t tell patients which pharmacies to use, a practice known as “patient steering,” according to 84% percent of respondents to a new national consumer survey released by the National Community Pharmacists Association.  More specifically, 78% say insurance plans and PBMs shouldn’t require patients to use pharmacies they own and they shouldn’t be allowed to require patients...

WASHINGTON – The National Community Pharmacists Association criticized the Federal Trade Commission after it deadlocked on a vote to investigate pharmacy benefit managers.  “Two members of the FTC just let the worst actors in the market off the hook. After hearing hours of testimony by community pharmacists and patients, all of whom painted the same shocking picture about PBM abuse, and not a single witness there to defend the PBM industry, it is inexplicable that two members...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – The National Community Pharmacists Association reiterated its call to the Federal Trade Commission to block UnitedHealth Group’s acquisition of Change Healthcare in a recent letter. UHG owns United Healthcare, a major health insurer, and Optum, a pharmacy benefit manager and mail order pharmacy. NCPA CEO B. Douglas Hoey has warned the merger would create a massively unfair advantage in the marketplace for a company that is already dominant and would threaten fair competition,...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – The National Community Pharmacists Association is going live in the Washington, D.C., media market with a seven-figure television ad buy urging senators to finalize language to reform PBM direct and indirect remuneration fees in Medicare Part D. CMS has disclosed that PBMs increased these retroactive fees on pharmacies by 91,500% from 2010-19. “PBMs are gaming the system at the expense of patient access and local pharmacies, and they won’t stop until they’re...