(Washington, D.C.) – Today, the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association, representing America’s pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), is calling on the Department of Labor (DOL) to rescind its proposed rule “Improving Transparency into Pharmacy Benefit Manager Fee Disclosure,” which layers excessive, costly, and unnecessarily duplicative disclosure requirements on PBMs after President Trump just signed into law separate transparency requirements.

This year, in the Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA), the president and Congress mandated a broad and detailed framework for PBM transparency, making PBMs the most transparent actor in the entire prescription drug supply chain. DOL’s proposed rule exceeds the authority Congress gave it under ERISA and would impose conflicting reporting requirements, resulting in substantially higher administrative burdens, driving up costs for patients and employers while providing them no new meaningful information beyond what is included in the CAA.

David Marin, President and CEO of the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association, released the following statement on the DOL’s proposed rule on PBM transparency.

“President Trump just signed into law the most sweeping PBM reform in history, including detailed transparency requirements. PBMs are committed to transparency and will rigorously comply with the new law. The DOL proposed rule, by contrast, was not authorized by Congress and now serves only to be a costly and unnecessary compliance burden, especially for smaller players in the market. The rule should be rescinded.

“PBMs have updated business practices to be more transparent and will soon provide drug-by-drug, claim-by-claim, pharmacy-by-pharmacy reporting to employers, unions, and governments. The actions taken by President Trump, Congress, and our companies mean PBMs are the most transparent part of the prescription drug supply chain.

“The department has exceeded its statutory authority with its proposed requirements, but importantly, we must ask how this serves patients. In practice it provides no additional actionable information beyond what the CAA mandates, while creating a completely separate reporting regime that will mean significant compliance costs. That means less affordable health care for families. At this point, the department’s rule is a solution in search of a problem.

“PBMs are focused on reducing drug costs. This rule would diminish that focus by forcing PBMs to comply with a Rube Goldberg regulatory machine. It should be rescinded while PBMs work to comply with the law the president just signed.”