Tag: Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs)
CVS challenges FAIR Rx Act
June 1, 2026HME News Staff
ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Soon after Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed into law the FAIR Rx Act, which prohibits pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) from owning or operating pharmacies, CVS filed a challenge, according to news reports. The National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) noted that CVS, Express Scripts, the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA) and others have also filed a lawsuit challenging a similar law passed in Arkansas. The NCPA joined the Arkansas Pharmacists Association...
NCPA celebrates PBM bill passing in Tennessee
May 26, 2026HME News Staff
ALEXANDRIA, Va. – The National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) applauds Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee for signing the Freedom, Access and Integrity in Registered Pharmacy (FAIR Rx) Act (Senate Bill 2040/House Bill 1959) into law, making the state the second to pass legislation prohibiting pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) from owning or operating pharmacies. The NCPA supported the Tennessee Pharmacists Association’s leadership on the FAIR Rx Act as it moved through the legislative process....
In brief: Scam prevention, PBM protection, Accendra offer
May 22, 2026HME News Staff
WASHINGTON – Rep. Aaron Bean, R-Fla., has introduced H.R. 8871, the DME Scammer Prevention Act, to require the electronic submission of DME products most susceptible to fraud within 90 days of the initial claim date. The current submission deadline is 365 days, which Bean says allows fraudulent vendors to take advantage of the payment system. “Rising fraud and criminal activity threaten to undermine the Medicare system for Northeast Floridians and seniors across the country,” he...
NCPA, NGA join new coalition to support small businesses
May 18, 2026HME News Staff
ALEXANDRIA, Va. – The National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) and the National Grocers Association (NGA) joined the newly-formed Main Street Competition Coalition at a kick-off event in Washington, D.C., to rally small business organizations across the spectrum against big corporations that they say use their market dominance to squeeze out smaller competitors. The Main Street Competition Coalition is a nonpartisan coalition of independent businesses fighting to restore competitive...
NCPA supports re-introduction of Monopolies Act
May 18, 2026HME News Staff
ALEXANDRIA, Va. – The National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) supports the re-introduction of the Patients Before Monopolies Act, which would force companies that own health insurers or pharmacy benefit managers to divest their pharmacy businesses within three years. The act, first introduced in December 2024, has been reintroduced in both the House and Senate. “PBMs have a choice – operate as a PBM or operate as a pharmacy, but you can’t have it both ways,”...
NCPA hits Hill, asking lawmakers to address PBM practices in gov’t programs
April 20, 2026HME News Staff
ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Independent pharmacists visited nearly 300 offices for meetings with lawmakers and their staff during the National Community Pharmacist Association’s Congressional Pharmacy Fly-In on April 15-16. Their message: We appreciate the reforms to Medicare Part D contract terms that Congress passed earlier this year, and now we would urge them to address pharmacy benefit manager practices in government programs like Medicaid, Tricare, and the Federal Employee Health Benefit...
NCPA’s Hoey to testify on PBMs at congressional hearing
February 11, 2026HME News Staff
ALEXANDRIA, Va. – B. Douglas Hoey, CEO of the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA), will testify today in a House Energy and Commerce Committee Subcommittee on Health hearing examining the prescription drug supply chain.
Hoey will outline numerous ways large pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) and their largely unregulated role in the supply chain have harmed patients and their access to pharmacy care and urge...
FTC settles with Express Scripts on agreement to change PBM practices
February 5, 2026HME News Staff
WASHINGTON – The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has secured a landmark settlement with one of the nation’s largest pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), Express Scripts, Inc., and its affiliated entities (collectively ESI).
According to the FTC, the settlement:
Requires ESI to adopt fundamental changes to its business practices that increase transparency;
Will drive down patient out-of-pocket costs for drugs like insulin...
NCPA welcomes passage of PBM reforms
February 4, 2026HME News Staff
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:
Requires the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to define and enforce “reasonable and relevant”...
New PBM bill reintroduced in the House of Representatives
December 15, 2025HME News Staff
ALEXANDRIA, Va. – The National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) supports Pharmacists Fight Back Act, a bill reintroduced Dec. 11 that aims to address pharmacy reimbursement and provide significant penalties for pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) violations. The bill, reintroduced by Reps. Jake Auchincloss, D-Mass., James Comer, R-Ky., and Diana Harshbarger, R-Tenn., joins other significant PBM reform bills that are currently pending in Congress, such...