Tag: Pharmacy benefit managers

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – The National Community Pharmacists Association and 41 state pharmacy associations are providing input to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners on the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Rutledge v. PCMA. The NAIC is developing educational materials on the case for members and state insurance commissioners who are tasked with enforcing state PBM regulations like the 2015 Arkansas law that led to the Rutledge decision. “The Supreme Court decision in Rutledge...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – The West Virginia Independent Pharmacy Association and the National Community Pharmacists Association applaud Gov. Jim Justice for signing H.R. 4112, a patient choice bill. The bill gives patients greater authority to choose which in-network pharmacy fills their prescriptions and addresses what the associations call the arbitrary “specialty” designation that pharmacy benefit managers use to steer patients into PBM-owned pharmacies. “H.B. 4112 will help patients...

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. – Michele Belcher, owner of Grants Pass Pharmacy in Grants Pass, Ore., and president of the National Community Pharmacists Association, joined a Dec. 2 virtual town hall hosted by the American Economic Liberties Project to discuss the harmful impact of pharmacy benefit managers. “The massive consolidation has hurt my small business, my patients and many pharmacies like mine,” said Belcher. “It’s almost like the CIGNAs and CVSs of the world are too big...

WASHINGTON – The National Community Pharmacists Association has partnered with five other organizations to form the Coalition for PBM Reform to bring transparency to a part of the health care system that they say is dominated by a few giant corporate middlemen who price medicines, reimburse pharmacies, and determine how much patients will pay at the counter. “Transparency is essential to any healthy market,” said B. Douglas Hoey, NCPA CEO. “There is none in the prescription...

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...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A group of nine pharmacy associations, including the National Community Pharmacists Association, has filed a friend of the court brief in the Eighth Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals defending North Dakota’s right to regulate pharmacy benefit managers. The case, Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA) v. Wehbi, is the first to consider at the federal appellate level the scope of the U.S. Supreme Court’s unanimous decision last year upholding an Arkansas...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has signed into law legislation to reform pharmacy benefit managers. Tennessee SB1617/HB1398 prohibits PBMs from reimbursing pharmacies below their acquisition costs; addresses PBM conflicts of interest by prohibiting patient steering practices through coercive co-pays and other means; and prohibits spread pricing in the commercial market, according to the National Community Pharmacists Association. “PBMs have exploded in size and in influence...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – The National Community Pharmacists Association supports legislation reintroduced by Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., that would require the Federal Trade Commission to study the role and recent merger activity of pharmacy benefit managers, including possible anticompetitive behavior. S. 1388, the Prescription Pricing for People Act, will bring more transparency into health care by addressing high drug costs and patient challenges, says B. Douglas...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – The National Community Pharmacists Association supports legislation that would give seniors more convenient access to discounted or “preferred” co-pays for prescription drugs at their pharmacy of choice. H.R. 2608, the Ensuring Seniors Access to Local Pharmacies Act, would also empower more seniors to choose the pharmacy that best fits their needs, promote transparency so that pharmacies have a clear understanding of their reimbursement, and tackle conflicts of...