Pharmacy Regulation
Recapping the 2017-2018 California Legislative Session (Part 1): Incremental Steps Made in Targeting High Drug Costs and Achieving Single Payer
Sammy Chang, Health Policy Researcher January 8, 2019
After considering 5,617 bills and resolutions, the two year California legislative cycle has come to a conclusion. As health care costs become more scrutinized, more bills than ever have emerged to target these costs. While not all of those bills passed, a significant amount of bills that did pass as well as the notable bills that failed coalesce around four themes: targeting high costs of prescription drugs, working towards a single payer system, regulating competition, and limiting high health costs. This post will focus on the first two themes: high […]
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Spotlight on 2018 State Drug Legislation Summary: The Year in Review
Katie Gudiksen, Senior Health Policy Researcher December 17, 2018
*Last Updated: February 4, 2019. In 2018, states showed an increasing eagerness to further regulate the pharmaceutical market with the goal of decreasing prices and increasing access to prescription drugs for their residents. This year, forty-four states considered 227 bills to address rising drug costs, of which 55 became laws in thirty-two states. Only two states with active legislative sessions, North Carolina and Alabama, did not consider legislation with the aim of reducing prescription drug costs or ensuring access to prescription.[1] In the first six parts of the “Spotlight on […]
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Updated – Source Short: President Trump Signs Bills Banning Gag-clauses in Pharmacy Contracts
Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor October 11, 2018
*Updated: October 10, 2018 On Wednesday, October 10, President Trump signed into law both bills passed by Congress to ban gag clauses in pharmacy contracts: the Patient Right to Know Drug Prices Act (S.2554) affects employer-sponsored and individual drug plans and the Know the Lowest Price Act (S.2553) will affect Medicare Part D and Medicare Advantage plans. Trump expects an immediate impact on drug prices and remarked at the signing: “All our citizens deserve to know the lowest price available at our pharmacies, and now that’s what they’ll be getting.” *Updated: […]
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Updated – Source Short: Congress Acts to Ban Gag-clauses in Pharmacy Contracts
Katie Gudiksen, Senior Health Policy Researcher September 27, 2018
*Updated: September 27, 2018 On Tuesday, September 25, the House voted to pass the Patient Right to Know Drug Prices Act, so the bill currently awaits President Trump’s Signature. In addition, both the House and Senate passed the Know the Lowest Price Act of 2018 (S.2553), which bans gag-clauses in Medicare Advantage or Medicare Part D plans. In a tweet on September 17, President Trump expressed his support of legislation that will remove gag clauses. As a result, gag-clauses at pharmacy counters will likely be prohibited, so pharmacists will be […]
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Source Short: Senate Passes Legislation Banning Gag-clauses in Pharmacy Contracts
Katie Gudiksen, Senior Health Policy Researcher September 19, 2018
On Monday, September 17, the Senate overwhelmingly passed S.2554, the Patient Right to Know Drug Prices Act, with a vote of 98-2.[1] Congress appears to be building on the momentum of recent state action to prohibit gag-clauses that prevent pharmacists from telling insured patients when the cost of their co-payment exceeds the cash price of the drug. While the Senate bill does not forbid pharmacists from collecting more than the cash price for a prescription, it does allow them to tell patients when their out-of-pocket costs using their health plan […]
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Spotlight on 2018 State Drug Legislation: Part 3 – Pharmacist Gag Clauses
Katie Gudiksen, Senior Health Policy Researcher August 28, 2018
*Last Update: This post was written before the end of the 2018 legislative session. For the most recent count of states that passed these legislation, see the Spotlight on 2018 State Drug Legislation Summary: The Year in Review or download our Summary Chart. *Updated 10/10/18: Since the original publication, the federal government enacted laws to ensure a federal ban on pharmaceutical gag-clauses. On Wednesday, October 10, President Trump signed into law both bills passed by Congress to ban gag clauses in pharmacy contracts: the Patient Right to Know Drug Prices […]
Continue Reading Download PDF The Source Roundup: May 2018 Edition
Amy Y. Gu, Managing Editor May 1, 2018
Happy May! In this edition of the Source Roundup, we cover four academic articles and reports from March and April. The topics this month include: 1) the unfilled promise of price transparency to encourage price shopping, 2) FDA’s actions on prescription drug prices, 3) the phenomenon of overpayment for prescription drugs, and 4) results of Maryland’s All-Payer global hospital budgeting program. Unfulfilled Promise of Price Transparency to Encourage Price ShoppingIn Promise and Reality of Price Transparency, a health policy report published by the New England Journal of Medicine, authors Ateev Mehrotra, Michael […]
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