Senate committee advances bill to bar PBMs from owning both benefit manager and pharmacy

The Senate Insurance & Commerce Committee voted to advance House Bill 11‑50 on a voice vote after more than two hours of public testimony for and against the measure. The bill, introduced in the House and presented to the committee by Sen. Kim Hammer, would prohibit pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, from both administering pharmacy benefits and owning or operating pharmacies that fill those prescriptions.

The measure’s sponsors and many pharmacists said the law is intended to stop what they described as “steering” of patients and large markups for specialty drugs when PBMs send prescriptions to pharmacies they own. "This bill is about restoring choice, improving access, ensuring affordability, and trusting the local care that so many Arkansans depend on," said Sen. Kim Hammer, the bill sponsor, during closing remarks to the committee.

Why it matters: Supporters said PBM-owned pharmacies are taking high-cost specialty fills away from local pharmacies and marking up…