{"id":50169,"date":"2022-10-27T16:01:58","date_gmt":"2022-10-27T14:01:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pharma-trend.com\/en\/new-study-inequity-in-pharmacy-benefit-managers-drug-pricing-practices-in-oregon-raises-serious-questions\/"},"modified":"2022-10-27T16:01:58","modified_gmt":"2022-10-27T14:01:58","slug":"new-study-inequity-in-pharmacy-benefit-managers-drug-pricing-practices-in-oregon-raises-serious-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pharma-trend.com\/en\/new-study-inequity-in-pharmacy-benefit-managers-drug-pricing-practices-in-oregon-raises-serious-questions\/","title":{"rendered":"New Study: Inequity in Pharmacy Benefit Managers\u2019 Drug Pricing Practices in Oregon Raises Serious Questions"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\nPatients, pharmacists and providers in the state are disadvantaged by inequitable and worsening PBM business model<\/i><\/b>\n<\/p>\n

WEST LINN, Ore.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The Oregon State Pharmacy Association (OSPA), in collaboration with 3 Axis Advisors, released a report today that illustrates the worrying tactics that pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) \u2013 middlemen health insurance companies \u2013 employ to increase their profits at the expense of local pharmacies, taxpayers and patients. The study, Understanding Pharmacy Reimbursement Trends in Oregon<\/i>, found that PBMs are reimbursing pharmacies at wildly different rates while at times charging Medicare and Medicaid astronomical prices.\n<\/p>\n

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\n\u201cWhat we found is that PBMs \u2013 these middlemen in the drug supply chain \u2013 are essentially free to set the prices of drugs wherever and however they choose and, as a result, our state is rapidly losing small local pharmacies. That\u2019s because these pharmacies aren\u2019t being reimbursed at rates that allow them to keep their doors open, which raises serious questions about what PBMs are up to and why,\u201d said OSPA Executive Director Brian Mayo.\n<\/p>\n

\nOne particularly troubling example detailed in the report shows that the state Medicaid program, which provides health care coverage to low-income Oregonians, was made to pay more than eight times the manufacturer\u2019s asking price for a generic multiple sclerosis drug. If the payment was instead based on the manufacturer\u2019s list price ($350) instead of what PBMs charged Medicaid on average ($2,928), the state could have saved approximately $1.9 million on this one drug alone.\n<\/p>\n

\n\u201cWe have real concerns about what this means for patient health and safety,\u201d said Lincoln Alexander, a local pharmacist from Portland and immediate past president of OSPA. \u201cWhen we see these unfair markups, it means more and more patients are struggling to afford and adhere to the medications they depend on.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\nKey findings of the report:\n<\/p>\n