Kansas committee hears testimony on bill to regulate pharmacy benefit managers

TOPEKA, Kan. — A Kansas House committee on Jan. 28 heard more than three hours of testimony on Senate Bill 360, the "Kansas Consumer Prescription Protection and Accountability Act," a measure that would license and regulate pharmacy benefit managers, require greater rebate pass-through and ban spread pricing.

Insurance Commissioner Vicki Schmidt, a pharmacist by training, testified the bill is intended to "lower drug costs and premiums for Kansans" by ensuring that rebates are passed on to consumers and health plans and by banning spread pricing, a practice she said reduces the amount health plans pay for drugs. "Today, the department has very limited authority to regulate PBMs," Schmidt said, urging the committee to give the Department of Insurance stronger oversight tools.

Supporters pointed to other states as examples. Joylyn Fixx of the West Virginia insurance office, who chairs the NAIC pharmacy benefit managers working group, described a suite of reforms adopted in West Virginia since 2017 — including pass-through rebating, a reimbursement floor tied to NADAC and a dispensing fee based on Medicaid practice — and said enforcement there yielded roughly $4…