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Yesterday was a banner day, thanks to your phone calls
to the House Public Health Committee about CSHB 3678. During the
hearing last night, more than a few committee members asked HHSC what
the impact would be on community pharmacy if PBMs take over. No one
could say it would be a good thing for Texas business.
The committee met after the House adjourned and finally
took up our bill about 10 p.m.
Economist Ray Perryman led off the pro-CSHB
3678 testimony, talking about the effect of throwing
pharmacy to the PBM wolves. A PhRMA representative from D.C.
aggressively attempted to state PhRMA's position. However, she
couldn't defend the legal problems Texas has had with PBMs and
drug manufacturers.
TPBC brought in Gerry Purcell, a member of our
consultant team and a nationally recognized expert on PBMs. The
best word to describe his testimony is "dynamite"! He
contrasted the Texas VDP with other states, noting Texas is
considered the gold standard in their field. That was well received
by the committee, because frankly, this legislature hasn't heard much
positive testimony this session. Gerry clarified the relative merits
of premium taxes and the problems with trying to audit PBMs that are
buffered by HMOs from the state's oversight. He also pointed out the
very long list of fraud settlements reached by Attorney General
Abbott against drug manufacturers and the very PBMs expected to take
over the Texas VDP.
H-E-B's Dennis Wiesner, RPh and independent
pharmacist Tammy Gray, RPh gave compelling testimony from personal,
front-line experience. Dennis discussed the pharmacy group that has
been working with VDP to find cost savings, and shared statistics on
actual generic usage that differed from the HHSC claims.
Several consumer groups voiced their opposition to the
bill, but their testimony made it clear that they didn't fully
understand the bill. In fact, it sometimes was difficult to know
where they really stood on the issue. Their concerns were to invest
in healthy Texans and to grant physician control of prescribing. We
are reviewing the bill to see how we can address or clarify those
concerns.
All in all, it was a great hearing. The committee
members listened attentively and were well informed of the issues.
So, what's next? Well, there was no vote last night and
we have more work to do. But we had a major positive impact, and the
bill lives on. Please be ready to call in again when the time is
right.
In the meantime, thank you so much, each and every one
of you who made calls. Your Council staff is only as effective
as the membership. We can't win these fights without you!
Stay tuned!
Richard
E. Beck, RPh
Executive
Director
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