State pharmacy benefits manager; contractual provisions, report.
Summary
State pharmacy benefits manager; contractual provisions; report. Requires the Department of Medical Assistance Services' contract with the state pharmacy benefits manager to (i) require that that ingredient-cost reimbursement is based on the national average drug acquisition cost, or if unavailable, the wholesale acquisition cost minus a discount set by the Department, plus a professional dispensing fee, determined by the Department; (ii) require real-time or near real-time transparency in drug costs, rebates collected and paid, dispensing fees paid, administrative fees, and all other charges, fees, costs, and holdbacks, claim denials appeals, and network participation; (iii) prohibit the state pharmacy benefits manager from steering Medicaid recipients to affiliated pharmacies through differential cost-sharing, restrictive network design, or the mandatory use of a mail order pharmacy provider; (iv) require the state pharmacy benefits manager to (a) meet network adequacy standards established by the Department; (b) allow any willing pharmacy to participate in the pharmacy network; (c) verify that all contracted pharmacies are actively accepting Medicaid recipients; (d) submit annual reports containing certain information; (e) disclose to the Department pricing and maximum acquisition cost methodologies; and (f) allow invoice-based or national average drug acquisition cost-based appeals and require an adjustment of rates network-wide when an appeal is upheld; and (v) include enforcement mechanisms and monetary penalties for noncompliance. Additionally, the bill requires Department to annually calculate the savings generated by the use of the state pharmacy benefits manager and to annually increase its dispensing fee by the amount of such savings. The bill requires the Department to annually (1) publish and make available on its website its annual and total savings achieved, the annual and total amount applied to dispensing fees increases, and the updated dispensing fees and (2) report to the General Assembly on the state pharmacy benefits manager's compliance, national average drug acquisition cost compliance, pharmacy reimbursement trends, network adequacy compliance, and dispensing fee sufficiency.
Bill status
in committee
3 of 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Jan 2026
Committee Review
Feb 2026
House of Delegates Passage
Feb 2026
Senate Passage
Governor
Introduced Jan 13, 2026
Last action Feb 18, 2026
Floor votes · House of Delegates Feb 5, 2026
How they voted
21–1
Passed
Total votes 22
Feb 5, 2026
D
Democratic15
100% Yea
R
Republican7
85% Yea
Vote distribution
All Yea
All Nay
Mixed
No data
Full legislative history
Actions timeline
Total actions
11
Key actions
6
Committee
8
Feb 18, 2026
Lower · Passed
Left in Committee Appropriations
lower
Feb 13, 2026
Lower · Passed
Subcommittee recommends laying on the table (6-Y 1-N)
lower
Feb 5, 2026
Committee
Assigned HAPP sub: Health & Human Resources
lower
Feb 5, 2026
Lower · Passed
Reported from Labor and Commerce with amendment(s) and referred to Appropriations (21-Y 1-N)
lower
Feb 5, 2026
House Of Delegates · Passed
House of Delegates Vote: pass (21-1)
house of delegates
Feb 3, 2026
Lower · Passed
Subcommittee recommends reporting with amendment(s) and referring to Appropriations (9-Y 0-N)
lower
Feb 3, 2026
Lower · Passed
House subcommittee offered
lower
Jan 20, 2026
Committee
Assigned HCL sub: Subcommittee #1
lower
Jan 13, 2026
Committee
Referred to Committee on Labor and Commerce
lower
1 primary · 3 co-sponsors
Sponsors
Role
Legislator
Party
State
District
P
Katrina Callsen
DDemocratic
Co
LG
Liz Guzmán
DDemocratic
Co
Nicole Cole
DDemocratic
Co
Otto Wachsmann
RRepublican
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