A bill to regulate pharmaceutical industry middlemen known as pharmacy benefit managers has passed both chambers of the Pennsylvania legislature. It will go to Gov. Josh Shapiro’s desk, and he’s expected to sign it.
“The broad bipartisan support for this common-sense legislation provides stronger patient protections through enhanced transparency and oversight of PBMs,” Victoria Elliott, CEO of the Pennsylvania Pharmacists Association, said in a statement following the bill’s passage.
The bill passed the House on Thursday afternoon after making its way through the Senate Wednesday. It creates a host of new regulations for pharmacy benefit managers, however it also allows for significant exemptions to those rules.
The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Jessica Benham (D-Allegheny) said, “It is a piece of legislation that is going to go a long way towards addressing the issues that our community pharmacies are facing and it’s also going to save patients some money.”
Pharmacy benefit managers are middlemen in the pharmaceutical supply chain. They’re hired by insurance companies to administer the prescription drug sides of their health insurance plans. In that role, they negotiate discounts with drug manufacturers — often receiving rebates in exchange for placing expensive drugs on an insurance plan’s list of covered drugs.
