Harshbarger Introduces PM Sunshine and Accountability Act

Earlier this week, US Representative Diana Harshbarger introduced the PBM Sunshine and Accountability Act. That is a bipartisan bill which will establish new, public reporting requirements for Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs), to ensure that patients, providers, and employers are able to make informed, cost-efficient, and value-based PBM choices. The PBM Sunshine and Accountability Act would amend current law to require PBMs to publicly report additional information to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), including the dollar amount of all rebates, administrative fees, and other revenue the PBM receives from drug manufacturers and healthcare entities ; plus Highest, lowest, and total retained rebate percentages and also the post-adjudication payments or clawbacks that PBMs extract from pharmacies. Harshbarger says “For far too long, PBM middlemen have exploited a lack of transparency and created conflicts of interest in ways significantly distorting competition at consumer expense…”. Many experts blame PBM’s for the rising cost of prescription drugs.