Mintz’s PBM & Pharmacy practice is proud to present the Mintz IRA Update, a regular publication that delves into the spectrum of developments under the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (“IRA”) impacting the health care industry.

Though the flurry of state PBM-focused legislation slowed down with the summer recess, there has still been plenty of noteworthy PBM news. This roundup focuses on state Medicaid enforcement activities involving Centene and provides a brief overview of recent legislative activity.

MintzRx is a regular newsletter providing you with everything you need to know to stay abreast of the legal, regulatory, and industry developments across the pharmaceutical supply chain.

2022 continues to see a surge in state-led PBM enforcement efforts. This roundup provides a brief summary of Louisiana’s complaint against United Healthcare and OptumRx related to its Medicaid program and recent state legislative actions.

As we noted in our last PBM Regulatory Roundup, there has been a wave of state regulation focused on PBM practices in the wake of Rutledge and Webhi. However, PBMs are also facing federal reform efforts. The Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) Transparency Act of 2022 (the Act) was recently proposed in the U.S. Senate and intends to incentivize “fair and transparent” PBM practices, prohibit spread pricing and claw backs of payments to pharmacies, and empower the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and state attorneys general in enforcement actions to stop “unfair and deceptive” PBM business practices.

At the same time, government watchdogs are also taking action: on June 7, 2022, the FTC announced that it would launch an inquiry into vertically integrated PBMs, and the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) for the Department of Health and Human Services expects to release a report in 2022 following completion of its analysis of Medicaid Managed Care Organization (MCO) PBM pricing.

As states move forward with their 2022 legislative sessions in earnest, we have been examining whether the Wehbi decision has had any initial effects on PBM-focused legislation. This roundup provides a brief recap of the significance of Wehbi, summarizes the Eighth Circuit’s opinion and holding, and highlights some state measures that have been proposed or passed during the flurry of PBM-focused legislation we have already seen in 2022.

The next post in our series analyzing the recently proposed Contract Year 2023 Policy and Technical Changes to the Medicare Advantage and Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit Programs rule (Proposed Rule), focuses on a regulation impacting Part D sponsors and their reporting of pharmacy price concessions. According to CMS, the proposed change—which would require the “negotiated price” of a covered Plan D drug to be the lowest possible payment made to a pharmacy by a Plan D sponsor—is expected to (i) reduce out-of-pocket costs for plan beneficiaries at the pharmacy counter, (ii) create greater drug price transparency, (iii) stabilize the operating environment for pharmacies and (iv) improve market competition.

As our colleagues predicted, the Supreme Court’s decision in Rutledge v. Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA) encouraged state efforts to expand regulation of pharmacy benefit managers (PBM) and related practices. And as expected, this year has already seen an aggressive round of state legislation that aims to expand regulation in this area.

On April 22, 2021, Reps. G.K. Butterfield (D-NC) and David McKinley (R-WV) introduced H.R. 2759, or the Pharmacy and Medically Underserved Areas Enhancement Act. Its introduction marks a fourth bipartisan effort in the House to enact the legislation, which would allow Medicare to directly reimburse pharmacists for delivering certain health care services to Medicare beneficiaries living in areas with limited access to primary medical care. Hindsight suggests that when introduced in the past, the Act may not have been ripe for consideration. But now, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and on the heels of successful initiatives like the West Virginia vaccine rollout, Congress may not wish to table discussion of the legislation any longer.