Buzz is on semi-hiatus this week, so we’ll have fewer stories than usual….

Great news: Our bills officially pass the legislature!

Both our bills — HB233 and HB323 — received final approval from the House. (It had to vote on them a second time to approve some minor changes made in the Senate.) That means it’s on to the final step: the governor’s signature.

Considering the unanimous votes, we can safely say you should thank your senators and representatives for supporting these bills! Drop a note, make a call, even send a fax — let them know you appreciate the vote.

And remember, sign up for a Region Meeting in your area to get the details about what these bills means as well as other legislation this year (e.g., marijuana).

http://www.gpha.org/2019bills/

Here’s a quick summary of our two big bills of the 2019 legislative session.

HB 233 is a first of its kind patient-focused bill that will help to preserve patient choice and restrict pharmacies owned by pharmacy benefit managers and insurers from benefitting from widespread steering by their affiliates. This bill:

• Prohibits pharmacies owned by PBM and insurance affiliates from transferring or sharing records for commercial (i.e., non-patient care) purposes;
• Prohibit pharmacies from receiving self-dealing referrals from their affiliates and billing for them (referral includes ordering of patients to affiliate pharmacies; designing and implementing plan designs that require patient to use affiliate owned pharmacies; and patient-specific marketing by affiliates);
• Requires pharmacies to disclose affiliates to the Board of Pharmacy; and
• Gives the Board of Pharmacy oversight for this law, as the Board of Pharmacy already has existing oversight of licensed Georgia pharmacies (and pharmacies mailing into the state who must hold a non-resident pharmacy permit).

HB 323 is an update to the Pharmacy Patient Protection Act of 2017. This bill regulates PBMs and does the following:

• Strengthens existing mandatory mail order provisions;
• Adds PBM transparency provisions in connection with rebates by requiring annual reporting of rebate information to payors/clients;
• Prohibits PBMs from steering patients to affiliate pharmacies;
• Prohibits sharing patient info with affiliate pharmacies for commercial purposes;
• Prohibits knowingly making misrepresentations to patients or providers;
• Restricts PBMs from charging fees or penalties in connection with audits;
• Applies existing law restricting onerous accreditation standards to PBMs; and
• Applies protections of this act to other dispensers such as oncologists and their patients.

Please note that neither bill restricts PBM-owned pharmacies from being included in networks, and contain exceptions for limited-distribution drugs not commonly carried by retail pharmacies and oncology clinics.

Affordable insulin

Cigna/Express Scripts says patients on commercial insurance taking insulin will not pay more than $25 for a 30-day supply (even before meeting their deductibles) starting this year from some customers. This comes after Congress began turning up the heat big-time as insulin prices skyrocketed. Interestingly, the company claims the change had absolutely nothing to do with pressure from Congress.

About time

The National Institutes of Health said it’s beginning human trials of the first universal flu vaccine candidate.

Were they being done wrong?

Found this ad on the Washington Post site. (Please don’t click on it. The PBMs have to pay each time you do.)

Healthcare stories for both sides of the aisle to roll their eyes at

Donald Trump said he had a secret plan for a replacement for the Affordable Care Act, then backtracked after members of both parties … well, let’s say they were all over that announcement but in different ways.

And Bernie Sanders apparently has a magic wand — a wand he says he will use to cut prescription drug costs in half if elected president in 2020.

There you go. Talk amongst yourselves.