Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Real change for state
The egregious actions of the pharmacy benefits managers (PBMs) in 2018 shined a spotlight on their dishonest business practices and revealed how little oversight these entities have. PBMs are the middlemen in your health care that decide what medication your insurance plan will pay for and what pharmacy you can use, and set the prices pharmacies are paid.
For example, when CVS/Caremark sets the prices of locally owned pharmacies, it pays them $60 per prescription less than it pays its own pharmacies. CVS sets its competitors’ prices while sending out letters to these same competitors offering to buy pharmacies that were struggling due to CVS/ Caremark’s actions. This type of activity is deceitful, anti-competitive and simply wrong.
CVS/Caremark’s actions related to prescriptions for opioid medications were even more unconscionable. While communities are tackling prescription drug abuse, CVS/Caremark was profiting from pain by paying itself three times what it paid local Arkansas pharmacies for the same opioid medication.
But the most atrocious example uncovered was the medication Harvoni, which is used to cure Hepatitis C. CVS/Caremark paid a locally owned pharmacy $11,718 while it paid itself $31,657.95, almost $20,000 more than its competitor on one single prescription!
The good news is that our elected leaders are listening. Gov. Asa Hutchinson has called a special session to begin today to place much needed oversight on PBMs, Lt. Gov. Tim Griffin has acknowledged that the market isn’t working, and Attorney General Leslie Rutledge has opened an investigation into the activities of CVS/Caremark. Legislative leaders like Sens. Ron Caldwell, Jason Rapert and Bruce Maloch, and Reps. Michelle Gray, Jeff Wardlaw, Reginald Murdock and Jimmy Gazaway and many others are leading the efforts to bring about real change for Arkansas.
SCOTT PACE
Little Rock Scott Pace is CEO of the Arkansas Pharmacists Association.