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This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback<\/a>.<\/p>\n Dive Brief:<\/p>\n Florida is launching an investigation into CVS Health and its pharmacy benefit manager Caremark,\u00a0in the latest state crackdown on drug middlemen for allegedly driving up the cost of medications. Dive Insight:\u00a0<\/p>\n Florida joins a growing list of states looking to curb PBMs, middlemen in the drug supply chain that negotiate rebates, reimburse pharmacies and set medication formularies, over concerns the companies are contributing to the sky-high cost of drugs in the U.S.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n Critics argue the biggest PBMs \u2014 CVS\u2019 Caremark, UnitedHealth\u2019s Optum Rx and Cigna\u2019s Express Scripts,\u00a0which jointly control 80% of all U.S. prescriptions \u2014 operate large, integrated healthcare businesses and use that leverage to profit. They say the drug middlemen steer patients toward their own pharmacies and impose arbitrary or unfair<\/a> contracts on smaller pharmacies, driving independent operators out of business<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Uthmeier said CVS\u2019 ownership of Caremark and about 800 pharmacies in Florida raise concerns the healthcare giant will give preference to its own businesses, threatening smaller pharmacies and increasing costs for patients.<\/p>\n The attorney general issued a civil investigative demand, a type of administrative subpoena used by government agencies to gather information and evidence.<\/p>\n The demand requires thousands of documents and sworn testimony on reimbursement rates, pharmacy contracts, rebates and audits, Uthmeier said. CVS has to respond by July 28.<\/p>\n \u201cFlorida families and seniors deserve access to affordable medication and real pharmacy choices \u2014 not a system rigged by one giant corporation that may favor its own stores and squeeze out competitors,\u201d Uthmeier said in a statement. \u201cThis investigation will uncover the truth and protect fair competition for all Floridians.\u201d<\/p>\n Other states have moved to add restrictions on PBMs. Arkansas passed a law last year banning PBMs from owning or operating pharmacies<\/a>, but it was enjoined last summer<\/a> following lawsuits from Express Scripts, Caremark<\/a> and Optum Rx.<\/p>\n Tennessee also passed a similar law, which is facing legal challenges from drug middlemen and the PBM lobby<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n PBMs say their work saves patients money on medications<\/a>, and that pharmaceutical manufacturers are the main cause of the nation\u2019s high drug prices. Still, the drug middlemen have faced the ire of Congress and federal antitrust regulators in recent years, including reform legislation passed into law this February<\/a> and an ongoing lawsuit of the nation\u2019s largest PBMs<\/a> by the Federal Trade Commission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to the article 3 min This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":323050,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-323049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=323049"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323049\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/323050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=323049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=323049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=323049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nThe probe will examine claims of anticompetitive conduct<\/a>, including whether the healthcare giant steers patients toward its own pharmacies at the expense of independent operators, reimburses affiliated stores more than other pharmacies for the same prescriptions and imposes burdensome audits on small pharmacies, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said Tuesday.\u00a0
\nCVS said it will work with the attorney general to address any concerns, but argued PBMs aren\u2019t the driver of expensive medications. \u201cDrugmakers alone set the price of prescription drugs, and blaming a PBM for high drug prices is like blaming an umbrella for the rain,\u201d a CVS spokesperson said in a statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n