The National Association of Chain Drug Stores is urging Ohio's Medicaid director to reform the state's pharmacy reimbursement system, according to The Columbus Dispatch.
The group, which represents 1,600 pharmacies in Ohio, sent a letter Dec. 10 to the state's Medicaid director, Maureen Corcoran, asking her to require pharmacy benefit managers to pay pharmacies at least a drug's value as listed in the National Drug Acquisition Cost list, a market-based data set from the federal government.
States including Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Louisiana reimburse pharmacies using that system, and three other states are considering it, according to the Dispatch.
The demands come after a 2018 report cited by the Dispatch showed that PBMs charged Ohio $244 million more for Medicaid drugs that year than what they paid pharmacists, according to STAT.
The letter is the first time larger pharmacies have gotten involved in the issue, but smaller pharmacies in Ohio have been asking for reforms for years, complaining that the state's Medicaid reimbursements make it hard for them to stay in business.
But the Pharmacy Care Management Association, a group that represents PBMs, said that creating reimbursement floors doesn't help consumers.
"Mandating reimbursement levels for pharmacists will further increase their profits on top of the approximately $138 million that they have received this year from Ohio’s taxpayers," Greg Lopes, a spokesperson for the association, told the Dispatch. "However, it will not reduce prescription drug prices for Ohio consumers or improve the quality of care they receive."
Read the full article here.
More articles on pharmacy:
UnitedHealth to acquire struggling specialty pharmacy
Pharmaceutical layoffs up nearly 6% from last year
Larger chunk of hospital drug spending going toward cancer treatments, study finds