Chuck Kray, center, a pharmacist and owner of Hershey Pharmacy, HersheyCare, and Hershey Long Term Care Pharmacies, discusses pharmacy benefit manager
Pennsylvania Auditor General Eugene DePasquale is calling on the state Senate to follow in the footsteps of the House of Representatives and back a package of bills calling for reforms in prescription drug prices and a more level playing field between chain and locally operated pharmacies.
DePasquale, who held a news conference Thursday, said he backs House Bill 941, which calls for pharmacy benefit managers to disclose more information about prescription drug prices. He also is backing HB942, which would codify a panel known as the Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee.
At the news conference, DePasquale also shined a spotlight on HB943, which would give pharmacists the ability to share cost-savings information with consumers on prescription drugs, and HB944, which would give the auditor general the ability to review PBM’s subcontracts.
The four bills were each sponsored by Republican lawmakers, while DePasquale is a Democrat. His time as auditor general is coming to a close after this year because of term limits, and he's currently running for Congress.
Some of the bills, DePasquale said, fit hand-in-glove into findings released in a pair of reports his office has published – one on transparency in drug pricing, the other outlining how rebates have driven up consumers’ prescription drug costs.
In his role, DePasquale said one of the most common concerns he hears from Pennsylvanians is the continued rise in prescription costs.
At the news conference in Harrisburg, he underscored his remarks by stating state taxpayers paid $2.86 billion to PBMs for services provided to Medicaid enrollees in 2017. Four years prior, DePasquale said that figure was $1.4 billion.
“These companies have a lot of influence,” DePasquale said. “[They] wield a lot of control. This is clearly one of the most important issues for people.”
In addition to prescription drug costs, DePasquale devoted a portion of his news conference to sharing concerns about a perceived uneven playing field between large, chain-based retail pharmacies and the independently operated ones.
Charles Kray, who serves as a pharmacist at a small, locally based group of drugstores, said he has felt the pinch from PBM’s practices, which he described as “anti-competitive.”
“The current threat is unlike anything I’ve seen in 45 years,” said Kray, who closed one of his stores last year after grappling with losses. “The transparency will go a long way.”
DePasquale said 48 independent pharmacies were shuttered in the past year in Pennsylvania.
While the package of bills addresses prescription drug costs, DePasquale said it has far greater ramifications.
“This is the front line of health care in Pennsylvania and the United States,” DePasquale said. “This issue is critical for health care in the United States. (It) has got to be tackled.”
Last year, as the package of bills were first introduced in the House, JC Scott, president and CEO of the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association, said PBMs had been unfairly vilified.
In an opinion piece published on PennLive, Scott said PBMs have saved Pennsylvanians $28.5 billion in the past decade through negotiations and other strategies.
“Unfortunately, while taking on drug manufacturers to lower prescription drug costs, PBMs are often unfairly maligned by another player in the drug supply chain – the independent pharmacist,” Scott said in the op-ed.
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