Latest news with #ArkansasPharmacistsAssociation
Daily Mail
28-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
New Arkansas law could force all CVS pharmacies to close by 2026
By All 23 CVS Pharmacy locations in Arkansas are at risk of closing following the passage of an obscure new state law. The legislation, known as Act 624, was signed into law last month by Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders (pictured). It bans Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) from owning or operating pharmacies starting in 2026. It would make Arkansas the first state to prohibit vertical integration between PBMs and pharmacies - a business model used by CVS Health through its subsidiary, CVS Caremark. Supporters say the law addresses longstanding concerns about market competition and transparency in the pharmaceutical supply chain. Governor Sanders called the measure necessary to curb what she described as 'abusive' PBM practices. 'These massive corporations are attacking our state because we will be the first in the country to hold them accountable for their anticompetitive actions,' Sanders said in an April press release. PBMs act as intermediaries between drug manufacturers, insurers and pharmacies, negotiating prices and determining reimbursement rates. Critics argue that PBMs who also own pharmacies can steer patients to their own outlets while under-reimbursing independent competitors. John Vinson, CEO of the Arkansas Pharmacists Association, said the law aims to restore fairness in the marketplace. 'The Arkansas Pharmacists Association is supportive of Act 624,' Vinson said. 'Act 624 is pro-business and pro-fair competition as it will support a market to remove conflicts of interest and stop price setters from also being price takers in a way that raises drug prices while also squeezing out market competitors.' CVS Health warns the law could have serious consequences for patients and health plans across the state. A company spokesperson told Newsweek the legislation will increase drug costs and disrupt care for over 340,000 CVS pharmacy patients in Arkansas. 'All of our 23 Arkansas stores are currently open and will continue to operate for the immediate future. We're doing everything we can to continue to provide pharmacy services to our 340,000+ Arkansas pharmacy patients,' the spokesperson said Tuesday. CVS also disputes claims that PBMs harm independent pharmacies, noting that there are currently 14 more independent pharmacies in Arkansas than in 2019. The company also argued that its PBM reimburses independent pharmacies at a higher rate than CVS locations in 61 percent of cases. 'Facts should matter more than rhetoric, and a simple economic analysis could have avoided all this chaos,' the spokesperson added. 'Small businesses, employers, health plans and others are going to have to pay more for prescription drugs starting next year because of this new law. Proponents of the bill have consistently made misleading claims about the need and rationale for this legislation, while downplaying the devastating impact it will have on patient care.'
Daily Mail
27-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
All CVS stores in southern state may be forced to close due to obscure new law
All 23 CVS Pharmacy locations in Arkansas are at risk of closing following the passage of an obscure new state law. The legislation, known as Act 624, was signed into law last month by Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders. It bans Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) from owning or operating pharmacies starting in 2026. It would make Arkansas the first state to prohibit vertical integration between PBMs and pharmacies - a business model used by CVS Health through its subsidiary, CVS Caremark. Supporters say the law addresses longstanding concerns about market competition and transparency in the pharmaceutical supply chain. Governor Sanders called the measure necessary to curb what she described as 'abusive' PBM practices. 'These massive corporations are attacking our state because we will be the first in the country to hold them accountable for their anticompetitive actions,' Sanders said in an April press release. PBMs act as intermediaries between drug manufacturers, insurers and pharmacies, negotiating prices and determining reimbursement rates. Critics argue that PBMs who also own pharmacies can steer patients to their own outlets while under-reimbursing independent competitors. John Vinson, CEO of the Arkansas Pharmacists Association, said the law aims to restore fairness in the marketplace. 'The Arkansas Pharmacists Association is supportive of Act 624,' Vinson said. 'Act 624 is pro-business and pro-fair competition as it will support a market to remove conflicts of interest and stop price setters from also being price takers in a way that raises drug prices while also squeezing out market competitors.' CVS Health warns the law could have serious consequences for patients and health plans across the state. A company spokesperson told Newsweek the legislation will increase drug costs and disrupt care for over 340,000 CVS pharmacy patients in Arkansas. 'All of our 23 Arkansas stores are currently open and will continue to operate for the immediate future. We're doing everything we can to continue to provide pharmacy services to our 340,000+ Arkansas pharmacy patients,' the spokesperson said Tuesday. CVS also disputes claims that PBMs harm independent pharmacies, noting that there are currently 14 more independent pharmacies in Arkansas than in 2019. The company also argued that its PBM reimburses independent pharmacies at a higher rate than CVS locations in 61 percent of cases. 'Facts should matter more than rhetoric, and a simple economic analysis could have avoided all this chaos,' the spokesperson added. 'Small businesses, employers, health plans and others are going to have to pay more for prescription drugs starting next year because of this new law. 'Proponents of the bill have consistently made misleading claims about the need and rationale for this legislation, while downplaying the devastating impact it will have on patient care.' PBMs have faced increasing scrutiny over opaque pricing practices, according to the Center for American Progress, which claims that CVS Caremark controlled roughly one-third of the PBM market in 2022, with other health giants such as Cigna and UnitedHealth close behind. With Act 624 set to take effect on January 1, 2026, CVS says it is reviewing its options in the state. While no closures have been confirmed, the future of its Arkansas locations remains uncertain.
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Arkansas governor signs first-in-the-nation ban on drug middlemen owning pharmacies
Greg Reybold (seated), vice president of Healthcare Policy at the American Pharmacy Cooperative, expresses support for Arkansas banning pharmacy benefit managers from owning pharmacy permits at the Arkansas Capitol on Tuesday, April 8, 2025. At right is John Vinson, CEO of the Arkansas Pharmacists Association, who also supported the policy. (Tess Vrbin/Arkansas Advocate) Arkansas became the first state in the nation to prevent healthcare conglomerates from operating drugstores here when Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed House Bill 1150 on Wednesday. State law already regulates what pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) pay to reimburse independent pharmacies, but pharmacists have complained that the companies violate the law. The state has also fined four PBMs a total of $1.47 million for paying Arkansas pharmacies below the legally required amount for prescription drugs. PBMs negotiate prescription benefits among drug manufacturers, distributors, pharmacies and health insurance providers, and the biggest ones also own pharmacies and insurers. The Federal Trade Commission released an interim report in July 2024 saying these conglomerates are eliminating competition and increasing drug prices at the expense of patients. HB 1150 headed to Sanders' desk April 9 after clearing the Senate with a bipartisan 26 votes, six days after it passed the House with 89 votes. The bill generated hours of discussion and public comment in the House and Senate committees on Insurance and Commerce this month. 'These massive corporations are attacking our state because we will be the first in the country to hold them accountable for their anticompetitive actions,' Sanders said in a statement Wednesday. CVS Health issued a statement last week urging Sanders to veto HB 1150, calling it 'misguided policy.' The organization, which includes the CVS Caremark PBM, issued another statement Wednesday afternoon. 'CVS Health welcomes a good faith discussion with policy makers in Arkansas and across the country on ways to make medicine more affordable and accessible,' the statement said. 'Unfortunately, HB1150 is bad policy that accomplishes just the opposite: it will take away access to pharmacy care in local communities, hike prescription drug spending across the state by millions of dollars each year, and cost hundreds of Arkansans their jobs.' Federal regulator: Pharmacy middlemen appear to be raising prices, hurting patients Arkansas has 23 CVS pharmacies that CVS and other opponents of HB 1150 said will be forced to close under the new law. Arkansas Pharmacists Association CEO John Vinson said this is not true and pharmacies can still operate if they detach from PBMs. Sanders, Vinson and other supporters of HB 1150 have said a lack of sufficient regulation of PBMs has allowed them to monopolize the pharmaceutical industry by setting their competitors' prices. OptumRX, Express Scripts and CVS Caremark — the three largest PBMs — are each owned by much larger corporations that each also own a top-10 health insurer. Together they control about 80% of the U.S. prescription market, according to last year's Federal Trade Commission report. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE Act 1 and Act 3 of 2018 prohibit PBMs from reimbursing their affiliated pharmacies in Arkansas at a higher rate than their competitors, locally owned independent pharmacies. PBMs routinely break these laws, said Vinson and HB 1150's Republican sponsors, Sen. Kim Hammer of Benton and Rep. Jeremiah Moore of Clarendon. PBMs have allegedly also violated Act 900 of 2015, which required PBMs to pay pharmacies at least as much as the national average of what drugstores pay wholesalers for drugs. Pharmacies sent the Arkansas Insurance Department (AID) thousands of complaints in 2024, claiming PBMs either illegally paid them below this national average or paid them at or just above this amount, independent pharmacists and AID's general counsel told lawmakers last year. Pharmacy benefit managers will have to pay Arkansas drugstores dispensing fees under new rule This led the Arkansas Legislative Council to require PBMs to include dispensing fees in their reimbursements for prescription drugs. The panel approved the rule a day after its Administrative Rules subcommittee rejected it. Hammer told the Senate Insurance committee April 8 that the Legislature should not be 'rewarding' violators of state law 'by letting them stay in business.' 'Congress is pursuing this issue. Why? Because states like Arkansas are not sitting on the sidelines and being quiet about it,' Hammer said. '[If you say], 'Let's sit back and wait for Congress,' like sitting back and waiting for the Lord to come, it ain't going to happen soon enough.' After more than a century serving Hammer's constituents in Benton, Smith-Caldwell Drug Store closed in August 2023 due to financial insolvency and transferred its clients to Walgreens, a national chain that isn't part of a PBM. Brad Lawson, a Little Rock-based healthcare supervisor for Walgreens, told lawmakers in December that unfair PBM reimbursements have forced the company to close several locations and plan further closures nationwide. Walgreens declined to comment Thursday on HB 1150. In an April 4 interview with the Advocate, CVS leaders said the Caremark PBM not only complies with Arkansas law but also reimburses independent pharmacies at a higher rate than its own chain pharmacies. They also said employers whose health insurance plans include CVS will face higher costs. This is not grassroots opposition to this bill. This is astroturf. – Sen. Mark Johnson, R-Ferndale, who supported HB 1150 'Patients are choosing us, they have a choice, and I think we're not allowing patients to have a choice in this bill,' Chief Pharmacy Officer Lucille Accetta said. When asked about HB 1150's potential financial impact on CVS, Accetta and Vice President of External Relations David Whitrap said the losses of pharmacists' jobs and patients' access to medication are higher priorities than money. CVS closed 244 stores between 2018 and 2020 and 900 more stores between 2021 and 2024. CVS District Leader of Pharmacy Operations Ashley Ellis spoke against the bill at both Insurance and Commerce committee meetings, saying she and her colleagues would lose their jobs if HB 1150 becomes law. Ellis lives in Greenbrier, represented by Sen. Missy Irvin, R-Mountain View. Irvin was in the minority of Senate committee members to vote against HB 1150, and she said she would not vote for a constituent to lose her job. Hammer said the potential loss of CVS employees' jobs is 'a lie.' 'If they want to argue these local [corporate] pharmacies shouldn't be going out of business because they get paid adequately, fine,' he said. 'Put your money where your mouth is. Prove it. Start paying yourselves like you're paying these others.' Several lawmakers said this month that they supported HB 1150 partly because they received emails urging them to vote against it that appeared to be from constituents but turned out to be from lobbyists opposing the legislation. Rep. Richard McGrew, R-Hot Springs, told the House Insurance Committee that CVS clients in his district had not consented to their names being used for this purpose. Sen. Mark Johnson, R-Ferndale, told the equivalent Senate committee that he received similar misleading emails. 'This is not grassroots opposition to this bill,' Johnson said. 'This is astroturf.' Besides CVS Health, opponents of HB 1150 included the Arkansas Chamber of Commerce, the Navitus Health Solutions PBM, and the Omnicare and Accredo pharmacies. Omnicare is owned by CVS Health, and Accredo is a subsidiary of Express Scripts. Several PBMs are affiliated with interstate mail-order pharmacy operations, and House Bill 1150 includes mail-order pharmacy permits among those that PBMs would be prohibited from holding. Opponents of HB 1150 said it would reduce patients' access to specialty drugs, some of which might only be accessible via mail-order services — including for military members and veterans who receive pharmaceuticals via the Tricare insurance program's partnership with Express Scripts. HB 1150 allows the State Board of Pharmacy to issue limited permits to PBMs if they provide 'drugs that are otherwise unavailable in the market to a patient or a pharmacy that would otherwise be prohibited' under the law. Hammer told the Senate this will allow Tricare beneficiaries to continue receiving medications while PBMs transition out of Arkansas. Despite being a veteran on Tricare, Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin's pharmacy services have been moved from one provider to another by PBM interference, he said in January at a news conference announcing HB 1150. He also said he would defend the legislation in court if it were challenged. On Monday, Griffin was the lead signatory of a bipartisan letter to Congress from attorneys general in 39 states and territories, advocating for the policy in HB 1150 to be enacted federally. Griffin sued Express Scripts and OptumRX last year, alleging that they used data from drug manufacturers and distributors to maximize their financial gain instead of using it to mitigate the opioid addiction epidemic. Put your money where your mouth is... Start paying yourselves like you're paying these others. – Sen. Kim Hammer, R-Benton, a primary sponsor of House Bill 1150 Irvin was one of nine senators, mostly Republicans, to vote against HB 1150 last week. She disputed the claim that PBMs have a monopoly in the pharmaceutical industry, saying this is only an opinion without a court's declaration. Senate Minority Whip Fred Love, D-Mabelvale, was the chamber's only Democrat to vote against the bill. Love's district does not have any local independent pharmacies, and his constituents will lose access to medications if corporate pharmacies like CVS close, he said. 'They've been talking to me saying, 'Guess what? This will hurt us,'' Love said. 'So we're going to manufacture a pharmacy desert in southwest Little Rock? That's not good for my people.' Irvin also took issue with a statement April 8 from Greg Reybold, vice president of Healthcare Policy at the American Pharmacy Cooperative, that HB 1150 will 'take the ball away' from PBMs in Arkansas' pharmacy industry. 'We're using the government to say, 'We're getting rid of your competition,'' Irvin said. '…It says that we're denying a permit to be approved for you, but not for you. You're picking winners and losers.' GOP Sen. Justin Boyd, a Fort Smith pharmacist and the vice chairman of the Senate Insurance committee, argued that PBMs' ability to set their competitors' prices is actually 'picking winners and losers.' Another 2025 Arkansas law that supporters said will increase patients' access to medication is Act 52, which removed the state's ban on nonprofit hospitals holding pharmacy permits. The bill, co-sponsored by Irvin, initially failed in the Senate Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee but later passed after being amended. The Arkansas Pharmacists Association opposed Act 52 before it was amended. Vinson told the Senate Insurance committee that Act 52 will create new pharmacy jobs that could make up for any job loss brought about by HB 1150. Both laws will go into effect in August. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Proposed ban on drug middlemen owning retail pharmacies passes Arkansas House committee
Little Rock pharmacist Brittany Sanders (left), Arkansas Pharmacists Association CEO John Vinson (second from right) and Rep. Jeremiah Moore (right), R-Clarendon, present House Bill 1150 to the House Committee on Insurance and Commerce on Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (Tess Vrbin/Arkansas Advocate) A House panel Wednesday approved a bill aimed at preventing pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) from holding a permit to operate a drug store in Arkansas. Opponents outnumbered supporters in the public comment period of the House Insurance and Commerce Committee meeting, but a majority of the panel's 21 members voted to send House Bill 1150 to the full House. PBMs negotiate prescription benefits among drug manufacturers, distributors, pharmacies and health insurance providers, and they rank prescription drugs with the highest-tiered products costing consumers the lowest out-of-pocket costs. The Federal Trade Commission released an interim report in July 2024 saying these conglomerates are eliminating competition and increasing drug prices at the expense of patients. 'Pharmacy benefit managers are gaming the system to line their own pockets with taxpayers' and patients' money,' said HB 1150 sponsor Rep. Jeremiah Moore, R-Clarendon. He decried the 'patently false' statements circulating about the potential impact of HB 1150 from those who oppose it, such as the idea that 2.7 million Arkansans would lose access to health care. HB 1150 has faced a marketing campaign against it in the two and a half months since it was filed, and Moore said the opposition has primarily come from PBMs. Arkansas lawmakers seek to ban prescription drug middlemen from owning pharmacies in the state Some of Wednesday's opponents of HB 1150 represented corporate health care organizations, including Russell Harper, a government relations executive with the Navitus Health Solutions PBM. Harper said the bill 'will result in lots of unintended consequences that will bring patient disruption, patient confusion and patient access issues to important drug treatments, not just in the commercial market, but in Medicare, Medicaid and Tricare.' He claimed a wide swath of Arkansas pharmacies, including 23 within CVS and 26 within Kroger, would be at risk of closing if HB 1150 passes. John Vinson, CEO of the Arkansas Pharmacists Association, denied the allegation that HB 1150 would force pharmacies to close by taking PBMs out of the competitive pharmacy market. 'It gives pharmacies a choice of whether they want to be a PBM or a pharmacy,' Vinson said. '[They would] pick one or the other.' Several PBMs are affiliated with interstate mail-order pharmacy operations, and House Bill 1150 includes mail-order pharmacy permits among those that PBMs would be prohibited from holding. Vinson said Wednesday that some PBMs force consumers to receive their medications via mail, which costs more than receiving them over the counter. Mike Castleberry claimed HB 1150 would reduce mail-order pharmacies' presence in Arkansas to the point that patients would not be able to access necessary medication. Castleberry is chief revenue officer at Consociate Health, which represents 'self-funded employers' in Arkansas, and he said many pharmacies can only afford to provide specialty drugs if they use mail-order operations. 'The first phone call that y'all are going to get from your constituents [if HB 1150 passes] is someone who's on a specialty drug,' he said. Randy Zook, president of the Arkansas Chamber of Commerce, said lawmakers should not make laws that attack vertical integration in business, but Vinson and Moore both said PBMs' vertical integration is unique because they set their competitors' prices. Federal regulator: Pharmacy middlemen appear to be raising prices, hurting patients OptumRX, Express Scripts and CVS Caremark — the three largest PBMs — are each owned by much larger corporations that each also own a top-10 health insurer. Together they control about 80% of the U.S. prescription market, according to last year's Federal Trade Commission report. CVS Caremark is a subsidiary of CVS Health, and District Leader of Pharmacy Operations Ashley Ellis expressed opposition to HB 1150 on Wednesday. Ellis said pharmacists that work for PBM-owned and corporate pharmacies are still members of their local communities, and they have access to the medications and equipment that serve people with complex health needs while independent pharmacies do not necessarily have these things. Rep. Richard McGrew, R-Hot Springs, said he received several emails from constituents who ostensibly opposed HB 1150 but said they 'knew nothing about this' when he contacted them. He alleged that the emails came from lobbyists against HB 1150 who received his constituents' personal information from CVS, where they told him they receive prescription drugs. McGrew questioned Ellis about this 'breach of integrity,' and Ellis said she was not aware of this. Navitus Chief Pharmacy Officer Sharon Faust said Arkansas has been 'a frontrunner' on regulating prescription drug access and prices, but HB 1150 would be 'a step too far, a step further where you're actually limiting patient choice [and] reducing competition.' Vinson and Moore said PBMs routinely reimburse their affiliate pharmacies at a higher rate than their competitors, locally-owned independent pharmacies. This practice is outlawed in Arkansas by Act 1 and Act 3 of 2018, which became law after a special legislative session. Arkansas lawmakers have been attempting to regulate PBMs for the past decade, starting with Act 900 of 2015, which required PBMs to pay pharmacies at least as much as the national average of what drugstores pay wholesalers for drugs. Pharmacy benefit managers will have to pay Arkansas drugstores dispensing fees under new rule Despite this, pharmacies sent the Arkansas Insurance Department (AID) roughly 3,000 complaints in 2024, claiming PBMs either illegally paid them below this national average or paid them at or just above this amount, AID's general counsel told lawmakers last year. Independent pharmacists made similar claims in September, saying they were struggling to stay open in rural areas with limited healthcare resources. The Arkansas Legislative Council approved a rule in December to require PBMs to include dispensing fees in their reimbursements for prescription drugs. Removing PBM-affiliated pharmacies from the market would require the employee benefits division of the Arkansas government 'to reevaluate and restructure their pharmacy networks and implement new compliance measures,' according to an actuarial statement measuring the fiscal impact of HB 1150. 'There could be minor cost or saving[s] to the plan from excluding certain retail pharmacies from their network, such as CVS Caremark,' according to the statement. 'Such a change would require a significant number of EBD members to transfer their prescriptions to an in-network pharmacy and may reduce pharmacy network access.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
