In Review: Senate Bill 41 (reimbursement and dispensing fees, ban on spread pricing, delinking, steering, AWP) advanced out of the Senate last week and now heads to the Assembly, where it will be heard first by the Health Committee. In the meantime, we have reached out to the Assembly Budget Committee staff as well as the staff at Health and Human Services to share our suggested changes to the Governor’s PBM budget trailer bill. We asked for tighter confidentiality provisions similar to those given to drug manufacturers under SB 17 (2017). We also noted that PBMs do not have some of the information they would be required to submit under the Governor’s bill. Finally, we raised a question about establishing a PBM fiduciary to the plan.

Up Next: We anticipate the Assembly Health Committee holding a hearing on SB 41 in late June or early July. The state budget is required to be completed by mid-June, but it is not clear if that will include the trailer bill as well as trailer bills sometimes come later.

If you have any questions, please contact Bill Head at bhead@pcmanet.org.