July 13, 2024 11:19 am<\/time><\/div>\n

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(The Center Square) \u2013 Legislation restricting the actions of unscrupulous pharmacy benefit managers, or PBM\u2019s, heads to the governor\u2019s desk this week.<\/p>\n

The issue has seen bipartisan support in both chambers. Sponsored by Jessica Benham, D-Carrick, the efforts to promote the bill received testimony from independent pharmacists across the commonwealth.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter visiting pharmacies in rural areas, small towns, suburbs and cities across the commonwealth, it\u2019s clear the way pharmacy benefit managers are currently operating is contributing to community pharmacy closures and rising drug costs,\u201d said Benham.<\/p>\n

The bill grants oversight into the PBM process, requiring them to report the rebates and payments they receive from drug manufacturers and how they are disbursed. It will ban PBM practices like patient steering, spread pricing and retroactively recouping money paid to pharmacies.<\/p>\n

The \u201cbig three\u201d PBM\u2019s \u2013 Caremark, Express Scripts and Optum \u2013 control over 90% of the prescriptions filled in the nation. They use vertical integration structures to profit from every level of the patient process, from clinic to prescription.<\/p>\n

These practices have resulted in the closure of independent pharmacies in droves, leaving the state with wide \u201cpharmacy deserts\u201d where the most vulnerable patients can\u2019t easily access medication. In the first six months of 2024 alone, the commonwealth lost over 140 pharmacies.<\/p>\n

Critics of the legislation argue that it expanded the scope of practice too broadly by allowing \u201cinexperienced\u201d pharmacy technicians to immunize patients as young as eight.<\/p>\n

Rep. Seth Grove, R-York, said nursing aids and medical assistants \u2013 who have far fewer training requirements \u2013 can already administer vaccinations.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf this stops, rural Pennsylvania will be without access,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n