The House Energy and Commerce Committee advanced the Promoting Access to Treatments and Increasing Extremely Needed Transparency (PATIENT) Act (HR 3561) Wednesday, May 24, 2023, in a unanimous 49-0 vote. The PATIENT Act includes several provisions related to lowering prescription drug costs and pharmacy benefit manager reform (PBM) that are supported by the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) and Michigan Pharmacists Association (MPA), including:

• The Drug Price Transparency in Medicaid Act (HR 1613). This legislation, would prevent the use of spread pricing in Medicaid-managed care programs, while moving to a fair and transparent pharmacy reimbursement system based on average acquisition costs plus the state’s Medicaid fee for service dispensing fee. It would also require all pharmacies to respond to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ National Average Drug Acquisition Costs survey, which would provide more transparency on drug pricing.
• The PBM Accountability Act (HR 2679), which would provide transparency to employers by requiring reporting from PBMs on drug spending, including out-of-pocket costs and rebates.
• The Promoting Transparency and Healthy Competition in Medicare Act (HR 3282), which would increase transparency into the negative effects of vertical integration in health care by requiring Medicare Part D plan sponsors to report data on their interactions with their affiliated PBMs and pharmacies.

“Patients and community pharmacies have been advocating aggressively for years for reforms and insight into PBM practices,” said Anne Cassity, NCPA’s senior vice president of government affairs. “This comprehensive package would take significant strides forward in terms of federal oversight, and NCPA is proud to support it. We’re grateful to the committee for its work and hope the full House will soon advance it.”