Georgia subcommittee reviews SB 60 to impose 'duty of care' on pharmacy benefit managers

ATLANTA — Senators and industry witnesses debated Senate Bill 60 during a Georgia Senate Insurance and Labor subcommittee hearing, as the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Hufstedler, asked the panel to consider imposing a formal duty of care on pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs.

Sen. Hufstedler framed the proposal as “a duty and obligation to perform pharmacy benefit management services with care, skill, prudence, diligence, fairness, transparency, and professionalism, and in the best interest of the insured, the health plan, and the provider,” language he read from the bill text. He told the subcommittee the bill would make the PBM’s obligation to patients primary when conflicts arise.

Supporters argued the change is needed because PBMs exercise broad influence over drug pricing, pharmacy networks and utilization controls. Sarah Balog, senior director of state policy for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) in the Southeast, told senators the measure would “level the playing field” by extending to PBMs the…