Senators Isakson, Johnson And Graham Introduce Bill Establishing Contract Fairness For Community Pharmacies & Patients
October 16, 2007 – 4:13 pm | posted in Pharma IndustrySens. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) introduced legislation today designed to put community pharmacies on a level playing field when negotiating contracts with the administrators of prescription drug plans - also called the pharmacy benefit manager (PBMs). By restoring fairness to the way community pharmacies are treated, patient access to medications prescribes by their doctors would be streamlined.
“It was President Theodore Roosevelt’s Sherman Anti-Trust Act that established rules to protect small business from big corporations,” said NCPA executive vice president and CEO Bruce Roberts, RPh. “One hundred years later, some provisions of the anti-trust law need adjustment to assure protections for our nation’s small business owners. With the introduction of this bill, the community pharmacists will continue to be viable members of the community, and I applaud these members of Congress for coming to their aid.”
The bill is called the Community Pharmacy Fairness Act of 2007. It creates a narrow exemption in the anti-trust law that allows community pharmacists to aggregate their efforts in negotiating contracts with PBMs. Currently, publicly-traded drug store chains negotiate favorable contract terms with the PBMs, due to their size in the marketplace, while the community pharmacies are offered non-negotiable contracts. In most instances community pharmacies are forced to accept these economically disadvantageous terms. The contracts are constructed in a way that greatly limits patient choices in their prescription drug coverage. Since community pharmacies often reside in underserved rural and dense urban areas with limited health care options, the impact on patients can be especially acute.
The bill, which does not require any additional government funding, provides community pharmacies with the ability to negotiate contracts, therefore:
– Limiting the shrinking and shifting formularies that restrict a patient’s treatment options employed by PBMs (formularies are the lists of drugs that are covered for specific groups in a health insurance plan).
– Reducing the pre-authorization hassles with PBMs to obtain refills or formulary-restricted medications that generate red tape and create hurdles for patients trying to obtain their medications.
– Curtailing the switching of patients to medications that may not be better for them therapeutically, but that earn higher brand-name drug rebates for the PBM.
“The Community Pharmacy Fairness Act of 2007 allows community pharmacies to return to their primary mission of helping patients get their medicines in an inexpensive, convenient, and timely fashion,” said NCPA President John Tilley, RPh, a pharmacy owner from Downey, Calif. “We urge Senator Kohl to hold a hearing so that a light can be shone on the questionable practices of the PBM’s, who should not be able dictate terms and create windfall profits for their shareholders on the backs of community pharmacies and patients.”
Senator Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) is chair of the Senate Judiciary’s Subcommittee on Antitrust, Business Rights and Competition. The introduction of the bill follows on the heels of success with the companion House bill that was introduced last February. HR.971, which is also called The Community Pharmacy Fairness Act of 2007, currently has 171 cosponsors, including House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.).
The National Community Pharmacists Association, founded in 1898, represents the nation’s community pharmacists, including the owners of more than 23,000 pharmacies. The nation’s independent pharmacies, independent pharmacy franchises, and independent chains dispense nearly half of the nation’s retail prescription medicines. To learn more go to http://www.ncpanet.org.
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