CVS Corp. officials say they will close more than 20 pharmacies in Arkansas after Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed legislation that bans pharmacy benefit managers from owning pharmacies.
The CEO of UnitedHealth Group’s OptumRx division, meanwhile, last week said of the Arkansas law that he and his team are “honestly not sure what problem they’re trying to solve.” The legislation, Patrick Conway said on United’s quarterly earnings conference call, could leave patients receiving treatments for schizophrenia, depression and other conditions without their medicines.
“We’re significantly concerned about this,” Conway said April 17. “We’ll work with the state in the regulatory process post legislation to try to address those populations and maintain access. But we want you to hear clearly from us that our concern is about patients and maintaining access.”
In a statement announcing her signing of HB1150, Sanders said the law will stop PBMs from taking advantage of “lax regulations to abuse customers, inflate drug prices, and cut off access to critical medications.” Arkansas’ bill is the first of its kind but a handful of other state legislatures are considering similar measures to curb the activities of PBMs, which have become a flashpoint in the debate over healthcare costs.
CVS, which runs 23 pharmacies in Arkansas, campaigned against the Arkansas legislation early this year and said last week the measure accomplishes the opposite of what it set out to do.
“It will take away access to pharmacy care in local communities, hike prescription drug spending across the state by millions of dollars each year, and cost hundreds of Arkansans their jobs,” officials with CVS said in a statement.
Like their peers at United, executives of the company that owns Aetna said they will work with lawmakers to try to preserve access.
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