Arkansas committee debates PBM reforms aimed at expanding pharmacy access; sponsor pulls one bill for amendment, advances related licensure changes

Senate Insurance & Commerce members spent more than an hour on complaints about pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), hearing from an oncology practice and PBM industry representatives about how PBM network rules affect Arkansans’ access to prescriptions.

Sen. Clint Penzo, sponsor of the measures, told the committee the bills are meant to ensure patients can obtain medicines at local pharmacies by modernizing Arkansas’ “any willing provider” framework and clarifying how PBMs may include or exclude pharmacies from specialty networks. "SB103 is all about, expanding access to care," said Simon Debruzzo, Highlands Oncology Group, testifying that patients with complex regimens can face harmful delays when prescriptions are steered to mail-order affiliates owned by PBMs.

The hearing documented concrete complaints: testimony said some PBM-owned mail-order pharmacies have low online ratings and that prescriptions routed out of state have sometimes not arrived. Witnesses urged clearer rules so hospital-owned and independent Arkansas pharmacies that meet participation requirements cannot be…