The House Health Committee Tuesday unanimously approved two bills-- House Bill 2211 introduced by Rep. Judy Ward that will prohibit the inclusion of gag clauses in community pharmacy contracts to help prescription patients reduce their out-of-pocket expenses and House Bill 2212 introduced by Rep. Doyle Heffley that will reduce taxpayers expenses for the state’s Medicaid Program by giving the Department of Human Services more oversight into the prices charged and paid for in Medicaid. .
The bills now goes to the full House for action.
This statement was released by Patricia Epple, CEO of the Pennsylvania Pharmacists Association--
“We want to thank members of the House Health Committee for approving bipartisan legislation introduced by Rep. Ward and Rep. Heffley that will benefit prescription patients and state taxpayers. We look forward to early action by the full House to take these bills one step closer to becoming law.
“Rep. Ward’s bill will free community pharmacists from the ‘gag order” they are under from companies serving as Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBM) and, for the first time, allow pharmacists to tell their prescription patients how to reduce their out-of-pocket expenses.
“There are many instances where pharmacists can save prescription patients money when they are allowed to tell patients the same drug may cost them much less than their copay if they buy the drug outside of their insurance program. Now they can’t because of ‘gag clauses’ in their PBM contracts.
“Rep. Heffley’s bill will hopefully help establish a more level playing field for all pharmacies participating in the state’s Medicaid program by allowing the Department this additional oversight into the PBM pricing.
“The net result should be a reduction in costs for all taxpayers footing the bill for the state’s Medicaid program and fair reimbursements for community pharmacists.”
To learn more about these issues, visit the Pennsylvania Pharmacists Association website. NewsClips:
