STAT Plus: Supreme Court will review an Arkansas law governing pharmacy benefit managers
In a move with the potential to affect health care costs, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review a case that will determine the extent to which the states can regulate pharmacy benefit managers, the controversial middlemen in the pharmaceutical supply chain.
At issue is an Arkansas law that governs the reimbursements rates that pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, must pay to pharmacies. Specifically, the law requires PBMs to reimburse pharmacies at or above their wholesale costs paid for generic drugs. It also prevents them from paying their own drugstores more than what is paid to other pharmacies. CVS Health, for instance, owns a PBM and pharmacies.
