After much debate, serious pushback from national pharmacy operator CVS Health and more than $1 million spent on political ads, the "Freedom, Access and Integrity in Registered Pharmacy Act" has passed in Tennessee.
The legislation (Senate Bill 2040/House Bill 1959), aimed at reducing conflict of interest within Tennessee’s pharmaceutical industry, passed in the state Senate on Monday and the House of Representatives on Tuesday with bipartisan support.
It will now head to the desk of Gov. Bill Lee for his signature.
The FAIR Rx Act seeks to “eliminate the conflict of interest when a pharmacy benefits manager (PBM) both sets and receives reimbursement.”
Supporters of the bill see its passage as a victory for independent pharmacies.
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“CVS Caremark’s threat to close its pharmacies is a desperate attempt to protect the unfair system from which it has profited and driven out more than 600 Tennessee pharmacies, reducing access to care for patients in our state," says Anthony Pudlo, CEO of the Tennessee Pharmacists Association, in a statement. “We are grateful to our legislators for taking strong, bold and necessary action to stand up to the abusive corporate greed of PBMs and put Tennessee patients first.”
Major opposition to the bill has come from national pharmacy operator CVS Health, parent company of pharmacy benefits manager Caremark, which spent more than $1.3 million on ads urging Tennesseans to oppose the legislation.
CVS came under scrutiny for possible violations of state consumer protection and antitrust laws and for using scare tactics such as sending direct text messages to patients — warning that 134 pharmacies could close and claiming 1.5 million Tennesseans could lose access to care.
The pharmacy chain issued a statement Monday evening following the Senate vote, vowing to challenge the law.
“While disguised as anti-PBM, this misguided legislation will not lower drug costs and is solely designed to benefit independent pharmacies, with no thought about the patients who’d lose access to the pharmacist who they know and trust,” CVS spokesperson Amy Thibault in a statement.
“This misguided policy will lead to serious consequences for the state, including the closure of 25 MinuteClinic locations, where Tennesseans get acute and primary care, and the loss of more than 2,000 jobs. We’re prepared to challenge the constitutionality of this law in federal court, as we did in Arkansas.”
This article was first published by our sister publication, the Nashville Post.
