New Finalized Drug Rebate Regulation ‘Disappoints” Pharmacist Groups

Washington, DC—Key pharmacy groups expressed generally negative reactions to the finalization of a regulation to eliminate the current system of drug rebates in Medicare Part D. Federal officials claim the action was “in order to create incentives to lower list prices and reduce out-of-pocket spending on prescription drugs by delivering discounts directly at the pharmacy counter.”

The regulation was in response to a July executive from President Donald Trump entitled, “Lowering Prices for Patients by Eliminating Kickbacks to Middlemen.”

In a press release, the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) said, “Savings to patients may be nearly 30 percent: In 2019, Part D rebates totaled $39.8 billion, representing an average discount of nearly 30 percent for brand drugs.”

“With the final rebate rule, we are taking on a broken system and delivering big discounts directly to American patients,” said HHS Secretary Alex Azar. 

“Our action on rebates has the potential to be the most sweeping change to how Americans’ drugs are priced at the pharmacy counter, ever, by delivering discounts directly to patients and bringing much-needed transparency.”

Groups representing pharmacists didn’t necessarily see it that way, however. 

On Twitter, the American Pharmacists Association wrote, “We are disappointed by today’s @WhiteHouse drug rebate rule, which does not fix the [direct and indirect remuneration] shell game. The rule will likely increase patients’ insurance premiums & out-of-pocket costs and may limit their access to care by forcing more pharmacies to close.”

Meanwhile, the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) said on its website, “On one hand, the rule tries to address the complexity and lack of transparency that allows PBMs to game the system. They use rebates to hide the true cost of prescription drugs, and that makes it impossible for policymakers and consumers to know how much they’re really paying, or why. On the other hand, the rule fails to address pharmacy DIR fees, which is a form of extortion that is killing small-business, independent pharmacies.”

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