Fritz Bill Calls for Accountability and Transparency in Pharmacy Reimbursement

November 21, 2019

HARRISBURG – Looking to improve and expand access to health care and prescriptions across the Commonwealth, especially in rural areas, Rep. Jonathan Fritz (R-Susquehanna/Wayne) announced that the House has unanimously passed his legislation, House Bill 944.

“This legislation is a call for transparency, fairness and accountability among Medicaid pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) who use taxpayer dollars to subcontract with Managed Care Organizations, as it would allow the auditor general to conduct full-scale audits of these subcontracts,” said Fritz. “Many other states have begun doing this and the process has proven to be worthwhile.”

Currently, the auditor general is not able to review these subcontracts even though Pennsylvania taxpayers paid nearly $3 billion to PBMs for Medicaid enrollees in 2017, according to the Department of Human Services. Since contracts between managed-care companies and PBMs are not signed directly with the state and are instead subcontracts, there is no provision requiring that they be made available for anyone to review, including the auditor general. Therefore, as of now, the state doesn’t know how these taxpayer dollars are being used.

The legislation now moves on to the Senate for consideration.

Representative Jonathan Fritz
111th Legislative District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Media Contact: Abby Krueger
717.260.6617
akrueger@pahousegop.com
RepFritzPA.com / Facebook.com/RepFritz