New Transparency Regulations for Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBM) Take Effect in New York
The New York State Department of Financial Services’ (“DFS”) recently announced implementation of new regulation involving Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs), which took effect on November 27, 2024. This is the third set of regulations established by DFS’s Pharmacy Benefits Bureau designed to reign in harmful business practice by PBMs in New York.
In 2021, a law was enacted aimed at providing reasonable regulation of PBMs doing business in New York, intended to level the playing field for independent pharmacies and help patients. DFS’s most recent regulations are geared towards protecting New York patients’ access to prescription drugs, prohibiting PBM business practices that increase the costs of drugs, and ensuring that independent pharmacies can compete with PBM affiliated pharmacies. See this announcement from DFS for more details.
Among the important provisions for patients are those that prohibit PBMs from requiring patients to have prescriptions filled from a mail order pharmacy instead of a community pharmacy.
