AN ACT RELATING TO COMMERCIAL LAW -- GENERAL REGULATORY PROVISIONS -- DECEPTIVE TRADE PRACTICES

This bill prohibits pharmacy benefits managers from engaging in specific deceptive trade practices, including spread pricing, effective rate pricing, and patient steering. It directly affects pharmacy benefits managers, pharmacies, pharmacists, and patients enrolled in health plans administered by these managers within Rhode Island. The legislation defines prohibited actions such as charging higher prices than reimbursed amounts, steering patients toward affiliated pharmacies, penalizing enrollees for pharmacy choices, and misusing patient prescription data for business gain. Violations are classified as unfair and deceptive trade practices, allowing the attorney general to pursue legal remedies for each individual consumer transaction where a prohibited act occurs.