In Review: This week, the pharmacists’ slate of Senate bills passed out of the Senate Business & Insurance Committee, including the dispensing fee bill, SB 2074. Senator Jerry Alvord’s (R) bill presentation was laced with anti-PBM and anti-vertical integration rhetoric. The afternoon before the bill hearing, the pharmacists rejected PCMA’s offer to protect patients from the dispensing fee and countered with an amendment that would require PBMs to pay the dispensing fee and not pass anything on to plan sponsors or patients. PCMA members are awaiting company feedback on the counteroffer. The movement of the Senate bills this week was to apply pressure on our negotiations ahead of Representative T.J. Marti’s (R) Forced Pharmacy Closure bill, HB 3538, being heard in the House Health & Human Oversight Committee next week.

If you have any questions, please contact Jonathan Buxton at jbuxton@pcmanet.org.