SACRAMENTO – Governor Gavin Newsom today announced that he signed SB 41 by Senator Scott Weiner (D-San Francisco), regulating pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) to prevent inflated prescription drug prices.
This bill enacts a sweeping reform of the allowable business practices for PBMs, which will be licensed by the Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC) in accordance with trailer bill legislation enacted this year. The bill reforms the revenue generating abilities of PBMs, including prohibiting the practice of spread pricing, requiring manufacturer rebates to be passed through to health plans, and allowing only administrative fee charges to be assessed to health plan and health insurer clients.