The House investigated yesterday the impact of proposed antitrust legislation that, if passed, could impact the way community pharmacies negotiate for drug pricing on the back end.
A House Judiciary Committee taskforce heard testimony for and against the hotly debated Community Pharmacy Fairness Act of 2007, H.R. 971, introduced by Reps. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) and Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) in February. The Senate companion bill, S. 2161, was introduced Oct. 15 by Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.).
Both laws would create a narrow exemption to antitrust law that would allow independent pharmacies to negotiate drug pricing with health plans' pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), the so-called "middle men" in the drug purchasing process.
The National Community Pharmacists Association supports the bill and the antitrust exception. The association represents more than 23,000 community pharmacies, franchises and chains and dispenses nearly half of the nation's retail prescription medicines.
Bruce Roberts, NCPA's executive vice president and CEO said passage of the bill would give independent pharmacies "a seat at the bargaining table" and would allow them to improve services and choices for their patients.
"Our pharmacists need true negotiating power when settling on contract terms, such as reasonable audit procedures and less red tape when dealing with PBM customer service," Roberts said.
NCPA said the new bill would "give independents leverage against take-it-or-leave-it contracts."
"The unchecked, unregulated and abusive practices of pharmacy benefit managers have gone on for too long. We have watched for years as patients have lost access and lost choices, and have seen how these corporate middlemen are driving the costs of prescription medicines ever higher," an NCPA statement said.
PBMs strongly disagree. The Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA) argues that the Community Pharmacy Fairness Act would not lower, but would increase the cost of prescription drugs.
"This bill couldn't have come at a worse time for policymakers and consumers alike," a spokesman for PCMA said. "As most everyone is searching for new ways to save money on prescription drugs, this proposal would dramatically increase costs while providing no corresponding upside for consumers."
According to PCMA, exempting pharmacies from antitrust laws would give them the right to "collude" to raise prescription drug prices. It could also increase prescription drug costs for Medicare and commercial payers by up to 11.8 percent, or $29.6 billion over five years, according to an analysis from CRA International.
Further, most independent pharmacies already collectively bargain and rural pharmacies enjoy leverage due to "the broad pharmacy network access standards required in Medicare," PCMA argued.