The Alabama Pharmacy Association is organizing the walkout as part of its advocacy for the bill, which aims to regulate pharmacy benefit managers. The proposed legislation would ban PBMs from reimbursing a pharmacy less than the acquisition cost, from extra fees related to network participation and claims processing, and from charging patients a higher deductible or copay to recover a dispensing cost.
As some association members meet with state lawmakers to discuss the bill, pharmacists across Alabama will either close for the afternoon or a few hours, lock the front door but keep the drive-through window open, or “[turn] their lights down so that entering patients ask questions,” the APA said.
“It is all about starting a conversation with their patients to address desperately needed pharmacy benefit manager reform,” according to a Feb. 21 news release.
