CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz, MD, is calling on the nation’s largest pharmacy benefit managers to voluntarily abandon the current drug rebate model, or risk its elimination by the government, Bloomberg reported June 24.
“There’s a possibility that we have a window now where three big PBMs might actually consider doing away with the rebate/kickback system,” Dr. Oz said June 24 during a meeting hosted by Transparency-Rx, a coalition of smaller PBMs focused on pricing reform.
The remarks signal that the Trump administration may revive attempts to eliminate the payments drugmakers send to pharmacy benefit managers after prescriptions are filled.
The three largest PBMs — CVS Health, UnitedHealth Group and Cigna — control roughly 80% of U.S. prescriptions. While Congress has considered bipartisan PBM reforms in recent years, none have become law.
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