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 as the PBM Reform Act (H.R. 4317) and the PBM Price Transparency and Accountability Act (S. 3345). “With this legislation and the other legislative proposals introduced in Congress, legislators have many options at their disposal to check the PBMs — and no reason to delay,” says NCPA CEO Douglas Hoey. “PBM reform would rein in the big health insurance lobby, make prescription drugs more affordable for consumers, and throw a lifeline to the thousands of small, family-owned pharmacies that are on the brink of closure. We are continuing to push hard, along with our allies, for Congress to finalize PBM reform legislation and send it to the president’s desk as soon as possible.” Among other things, Pharmacists Fight Back Act would:
- Reform payments in federal health programs — including Medicare, Medicaid, and the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program — by requiring reimbursements that are based on acquisition costs and fair dispensing fees
- Ban patient steering and allow for patients to choose their pharmacy
- Redirect PBM rebates to the patients and plan sponsors to decrease premiums.
Auchincloss, Comer and Harshbarger led the reintroduction of the Pharmacists Fight Back Act with a press conference on the lawn of the Capitol where they were also joined by cosponsoring Reps. Buddy Carter, R-Ga., Sanford Bishop, D-Ga., and Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., as well as pharmacists from 17 states across the country. The representatives and pharmacists spoke on the challenges pharmacists deal with daily and the dire need for PBM reform.
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