Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB526 Compare Versions

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11 II
22 119THCONGRESS
33 1
44 STSESSION S. 526
55 To prevent unfair and deceptive acts or practices and the dissemination
66 of false information related to pharmacy benefit management services
77 for prescription drugs, and for other purposes.
88 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
99 FEBRUARY11, 2025
1010 Mr. G
1111 RASSLEY(for himself, Ms. CANTWELL, Ms. ERNST, Mr. WELCH, Mrs.
1212 C
1313 APITO, Mrs. SHAHEEN, Mr. MARSHALL, Mr. HEINRICH, Mr. MORAN,
1414 Mrs. H
1515 YDE-SMITH, Mr. TILLIS, and Mr. ROUNDS) introduced the fol-
1616 lowing bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Com-
1717 merce, Science, and Transportation
1818 A BILL
1919 To prevent unfair and deceptive acts or practices and the
2020 dissemination of false information related to pharmacy
2121 benefit management services for prescription drugs, and
2222 for other purposes.
2323 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
2424 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
2525 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
2626 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Pharmacy Benefit 4
2727 Manager Transparency Act of 2025’’. 5
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3131 SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON UNFAIR OR DECEPTIVE PRE-1
3232 SCRIPTION DRUG PRICING PRACTICES. 2
3333 (a) C
3434 ONDUCTPROHIBITED.—Except as provided in 3
3535 subsection (b), it shall be unlawful for any pharmacy ben-4
3636 efit manager (or affiliate, subsidiary, or agent of a phar-5
3737 macy benefit manager), directly or indirectly, to engage 6
3838 in any of the following activities related to pharmacy ben-7
3939 efit management services: 8
4040 (1) Charge a health plan or payer a different 9
4141 amount for a prescription drug’s ingredient cost or 10
4242 dispensing fee than the amount the pharmacy ben-11
4343 efit manager reimburses a pharmacy for the pre-12
4444 scription drug’s ingredient cost or dispensing fee 13
4545 where the pharmacy benefit manager retains the 14
4646 amount of any such difference. 15
4747 (2) Arbitrarily, unfairly, or deceptively, by con-16
4848 tract or any other means, reduce, rescind, or other-17
4949 wise claw back any reimbursement payment, in 18
5050 whole or in part, to a pharmacist or pharmacy for 19
5151 a prescription drug’s ingredient cost or dispensing 20
5252 fee, unless— 21
5353 (A) the original claim was submitted 22
5454 fraudulently; 23
5555 (B) the original claim payment was incon-24
5656 sistent with the reimbursement terms in the 25
5757 contract; or 26
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6161 (C) the pharmacist services were not ren-1
6262 dered by the pharmacy or pharmacist. 2
6363 (3) Arbitrarily, unfairly, or deceptively, by con-3
6464 tract or any other means, increase fees or lower re-4
6565 imbursement to a pharmacy in order to offset reim-5
6666 bursement changes instructed by the Federal Gov-6
6767 ernment under any health plan funded by the Fed-7
6868 eral Government. 8
6969 (b) E
7070 XCEPTIONS.—A pharmacy benefit manager 9
7171 shall not be in violation of paragraph (1) or (3) of sub-10
7272 section (a) if the pharmacy benefit manager meets the fol-11
7373 lowing conditions: 12
7474 (1) The pharmacy benefit manager, affiliate, 13
7575 subsidiary, or agent passes along or returns 100 per-14
7676 cent of any price concession to a health plan or 15
7777 payer, including any rebate, discount, or other price 16
7878 concession. 17
7979 (2) The pharmacy benefit manager, affiliate, 18
8080 subsidiary, or agent provides full and complete dis-19
8181 closure of— 20
8282 (A) the cost, price, and reimbursement of 21
8383 a prescription drug to each health plan, payer, 22
8484 and pharmacy with which the pharmacy benefit 23
8585 manager, affiliate, subsidiary, or agent has a 24
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8989 contract or agreement to provide pharmacy ben-1
9090 efit management services; 2
9191 (B) each fee, markup, and discount 3
9292 charged or imposed by the pharmacy benefit 4
9393 manager, affiliate, subsidiary, or agent to each 5
9494 health plan, payer, and pharmacy with which 6
9595 the pharmacy benefit manager, affiliate, sub-7
9696 sidiary, or agent has a contract or agreement 8
9797 for pharmacy benefit management services; or 9
9898 (C) the aggregate amount of all remunera-10
9999 tion the pharmacy benefit manager receives 11
100100 from a prescription drug manufacturer for a 12
101101 prescription drug, including any rebate, dis-13
102102 count, administration fee, and any other pay-14
103103 ment or credit obtained or retained by the phar-15
104104 macy benefit manager, or affiliate, subsidiary, 16
105105 or agent of the pharmacy benefit manager, pur-17
106106 suant to a contract or agreement for pharmacy 18
107107 benefit management services to a health plan, 19
108108 payer, or any Federal agency (upon the request 20
109109 of the agency). 21
110110 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON FALSE INFORMATION. 22
111111 It shall be unlawful for any person to report informa-23
112112 tion related to pharmacy benefit management services to 24
113113 a Federal department or agency if— 25
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117117 (1) the person knew, or reasonably should have 1
118118 known, the information to be false or misleading; 2
119119 (2) the information was required by law to be 3
120120 reported; and 4
121121 (3) the false or misleading information reported 5
122122 by the person would affect analysis or information 6
123123 compiled by the Federal department or agency for 7
124124 statistical or analytical purposes with respect to the 8
125125 market for pharmacy benefit management services. 9
126126 SEC. 4. TRANSPARENCY. 10
127127 (a) R
128128 EPORTING BY PHARMACYBENEFITMAN-11
129129 AGERS.—Subject to subsection (d), not later than 1 year 12
130130 after the date of enactment of this Act, and annually 13
131131 thereafter, each pharmacy benefit manager (or affiliate, 14
132132 subsidiary, or agent of a pharmacy benefit manager) shall 15
133133 report to the Commission and the Secretary of Health and 16
134134 Human Services the following information: 17
135135 (1) The aggregate amount of the difference be-18
136136 tween the amount the pharmacy benefit manager 19
137137 was paid by each health plan and the amount that 20
138138 the pharmacy benefit manager paid each pharmacy 21
139139 on behalf of the health plan for prescription drugs. 22
140140 (2) The aggregate amount of any— 23
141141 (A) generic effective rate fee charged to 24
142142 each pharmacy; 25
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146146 (B) direct and indirect remuneration fee 1
147147 charged or other price concession to each phar-2
148148 macy; and 3
149149 (C) payment rescinded or otherwise clawed 4
150150 back from a reimbursement made to each phar-5
151151 macy. 6
152152 (3) If, during the reporting year, the pharmacy 7
153153 benefit manager moved or reassigned a prescription 8
154154 drug to a formulary tier that has a higher cost, 9
155155 higher copayment, higher coinsurance, or higher de-10
156156 ductible to a consumer, or a lower reimbursement to 11
157157 a pharmacy, an explanation of the reason why the 12
158158 drug was moved or reassigned from 1 tier to an-13
159159 other, including whether the move or reassignment 14
160160 was determined or requested by a prescription drug 15
161161 manufacturer or other entity. 16
162162 (4) With respect to any pharmacy benefit man-17
163163 ager that owns, controls, or is affiliated with a phar-18
164164 macy, a report regarding any difference in reim-19
165165 bursement rates or practices, direct and indirect re-20
166166 muneration fees or other price concessions, and 21
167167 clawbacks between a pharmacy that is owned, con-22
168168 trolled, or affiliated with the pharmacy benefit man-23
169169 ager and any other pharmacy. 24
170170 (b) R
171171 EPORT TOCONGRESS.— 25
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175175 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 1
176176 the date of enactment of this Act, and annually 2
177177 thereafter, the Commission shall submit to the Com-3
178178 mittee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of 4
179179 the Senate and the Committee on Energy and Com-5
180180 merce of the House of Representatives a report that 6
181181 addresses, at a minimum— 7
182182 (A) the number actions brought by the 8
183183 Commission during the reporting year to en-9
184184 force this Act and the outcome of each such en-10
185185 forcement action; 11
186186 (B) the number of open investigations or 12
187187 inquiries into potential violations of this Act as 13
188188 of the time the report is submitted; 14
189189 (C) the number and nature of complaints 15
190190 received by the Commission relating to an alle-16
191191 gation of a violation of this Act during the re-17
192192 porting year; 18
193193 (D) an anonymized summary of the re-19
194194 ports filed with the Commission pursuant to 20
195195 subsection (a) for the reporting year; 21
196196 (E) an analysis of the requirements of this 22
197197 Act and whether the implementation of such re-23
198198 quirements leads to mergers (including hori-24
199199 zontal mergers or vertical mergers) amongst 25
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203203 any pharmacy benefit managers, or any phar-1
204204 macy benefit manager that owns, controls, or is 2
205205 affiliated with a pharmacy, or any pharmacy 3
206206 benefit manager that owns, controls, or is affili-4
207207 ated with a health plan, and the effect of such 5
208208 merger (including the likelihood of a substantial 6
209209 decrease in competition or the potential for a 7
210210 monopoly); and 8
211211 (F) policy or legislative recommendations 9
212212 to strengthen any enforcement action relating 10
213213 to a violation of this Act, including rec-11
214214 ommendations to include additional prohibited 12
215215 conduct in section 2(a), and recommendations 13
216216 to encourage more competition and decrease the 14
217217 likelihood of a monopoly in the pharmaceutical 15
218218 supply chain. 16
219219 (2) F
220220 ORMULARY DESIGN OR PLACEMENT PRAC -17
221221 TICES.—Not later than 1 year after the date of en-18
222222 actment of this Act, the Commission shall submit to 19
223223 the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Trans-20
224224 portation of the Senate, the Committee on Finance 21
225225 of the Senate, the Committee on Health, Education, 22
226226 Labor, and Pensions of the Senate, the Committee 23
227227 on Ways and Means of the House of Representa-24
228228 tives, and the Committee on Energy and Commerce 25
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232232 of the House of Representatives a report that ad-1
233233 dresses the policies, practices, and role of pharmacy 2
234234 benefit managers (including their affiliates, subsidi-3
235235 aries, and agents) regarding formulary design or 4
236236 placement, including— 5
237237 (A) whether pharmacy benefit managers 6
238238 (including their affiliates, subsidiaries, and 7
239239 agents) use formulary design or placement to 8
240240 increase their gross revenue without an accom-9
241241 panying increase in patient access or decrease 10
242242 in patient cost; or 11
243243 (B) recommendations to Congress for leg-12
244244 islative action addressing such policies, prac-13
245245 tices, and role of pharmacy benefit managers 14
246246 (including their affiliates, subsidiaries, and 15
247247 agents). 16
248248 (3) C
249249 ONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this section 17
250250 shall be construed as authorizing the Commission to 18
251251 disclose any information that is a trade secret or 19
252252 confidential information described in section 20
253253 552(b)(4) of title 5, United States Code, except as 21
254254 necessary to enforce this Act. 22
255255 (4) C
256256 ONFIDENTIALITY.—The Commission may 23
257257 disclose the information in a form which does not 24
258258 disclose the identity of a specific pharmacy benefit 25
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262262 manager, pharmacy, or health plan for the following 1
263263 purposes: 2
264264 (A) To permit the Comptroller General of 3
265265 the United States to review the information 4
266266 provided to carry out this Act. 5
267267 (B) To permit the Director of the Congres-6
268268 sional Budget Office to review the information 7
269269 provided. 8
270270 (c) GAO S
271271 TUDY.—Not later than 1 year after the 9
272272 date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General 10
273273 of the United States shall submit to the Committee on 11
274274 Commerce, Science, and Transportation, the Committee 12
275275 on Finance, and the Committee on Health, Education, 13
276276 Labor, and Pensions of the Senate and to the Committee 14
277277 on Ways and Means and the Committee on Energy and 15
278278 Commerce of the House of Representatives a report 16
279279 that— 17
280280 (1) addresses, at minimum— 18
281281 (A) the role that pharmacy benefit man-19
282282 agers play in the pharmaceutical supply chain; 20
283283 (B) the state of competition among phar-21
284284 macy benefit managers, including the market 22
285285 share for the Nation’s 10 largest pharmacy 23
286286 benefit managers; 24
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290290 (C) the use of rebates and fees by phar-1
291291 macy benefit managers, including data for each 2
292292 of the 10 largest pharmacy benefit managers 3
293293 that reflects, for each drug in the formulary of 4
294294 each such pharmacy benefit manager— 5
295295 (i) the amount of the rebate passed on 6
296296 to patients; 7
297297 (ii) the amount of the rebate passed 8
298298 on to payors; 9
299299 (iii) the amount of the rebate kept by 10
300300 the pharmacy benefit manager; and 11
301301 (iv) the role of fees charged by the 12
302302 pharmacy benefit manager; 13
303303 (D) whether pharmacy benefit managers 14
304304 structure their formularies in favor of high-re-15
305305 bate prescription drugs over lower-cost, lower- 16
306306 rebate alternatives; 17
307307 (E) the average prior authorization ap-18
308308 proval time for each of the 10 largest pharmacy 19
309309 benefit managers; 20
310310 (F) factors affecting the use of step ther-21
311311 apy in each of the 10 largest pharmacy benefit 22
312312 managers; 23
313313 (G) the extent to which the price that 24
314314 pharmacy benefit managers charge payors, such 25
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318318 as the Medicare program under title XXVIII of 1
319319 the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395 et 2
320320 seq.), State Medicaid programs under title XIX 3
321321 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1396 et 4
322322 seq.), the Federal Employees Health Benefits 5
323323 Program under chapter 89 of title 5, United 6
324324 States Code, or private payors, for a drug is 7
325325 more than such pharmacy benefit managers pay 8
326326 the pharmacy for the drug; and 9
327327 (H) the competitive impact of pharmacy 10
328328 benefit managers’ business practices, including 11
329329 the impact that such business practices have on 12
330330 the cost of health plan premiums or prescrip-13
331331 tion drugs for consumers; and 14
332332 (2) provides recommendations for legislative ac-15
333333 tion to lower the cost of prescription drugs for con-16
334334 sumers and payors, improve the efficiency of the 17
335335 pharmaceutical supply chain by lowering inter-18
336336 mediary costs, improve competition in pharmacy 19
337337 benefit management, and provide transparency in 20
338338 pharmacy benefit management. 21
339339 (d) P
340340 RIVACYREQUIREMENTS.—Any entity shall pro-22
341341 vide information under subsection (a) in a manner con-23
342342 sistent with the privacy, security, and breach notification 24
343343 regulations promulgated under section 264(c) of the 25
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347347 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1
348348 1996 (42 U.S.C. 1320d–2 note) (or any successor regula-2
349349 tion), and shall restrict the use and disclosure of such in-3
350350 formation according to such regulations. 4
351351 SEC. 5. WHISTLEBLOWER PROTECTIONS. 5
352352 (a) I
353353 NGENERAL.—A pharmacy benefit manager, 6
354354 health plan, pharmaceutical manufacturer, pharmacy, or 7
355355 any affiliate, subsidiary, or agent thereof shall not, directly 8
356356 or indirectly, discharge, demote, suspend, diminish, or 9
357357 withdraw benefits from, threaten, harass, or in any other 10
358358 manner discriminate against or adversely impact a covered 11
359359 individual because— 12
360360 (1) the covered individual, or anyone perceived 13
361361 as assisting the covered individual, takes (or is sus-14
362362 pected to have taken or will take) a lawful action in 15
363363 providing to Congress, an agency of the Federal 16
364364 Government, the attorney general of a State, a State 17
365365 regulator with authority over the distribution or in-18
366366 surance coverage of prescription drugs, or a law en-19
367367 forcement agency relating to any act or omission 20
368368 that the covered individual reasonably believes to be 21
369369 a violation of this Act; 22
370370 (2) the covered individual provides information 23
371371 that the covered individual reasonably believes evi-24
372372 dences such a violation to— 25
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376376 (A) a person with supervisory authority 1
377377 over the covered individual at the pharmacy 2
378378 benefit manager, health plan, pharmaceutical 3
379379 manufacturer, pharmacy, or any affiliate, sub-4
380380 sidiary, or agent thereof; or 5
381381 (B) another individual working for the 6
382382 pharmacy benefit manager, health plan, phar-7
383383 maceutical manufacturer, pharmacy, or any af-8
384384 filiate, subsidiary, or agent thereof who the cov-9
385385 ered individual reasonably believes has the au-10
386386 thority to investigate, discover, or terminate the 11
387387 violation or to take any other action to address 12
388388 the violation; 13
389389 (3) the covered individual testifies (or it is sus-14
390390 pected that the covered individual will testify) in an 15
391391 investigation or judicial or administrative proceeding 16
392392 concerning such a violation; or 17
393393 (4) the covered individual assists or participates 18
394394 (or it is expected that the covered individual will as-19
395395 sist or participate) in such an investigation or judi-20
396396 cial or administrative proceeding. 21
397397 (b) E
398398 NFORCEMENT.—An individual who alleges any 22
399399 adverse action in violation of subsection (a) may bring an 23
400400 action for a jury trial in the appropriate district court of 24
401401 the United States for the following relief: 25
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405405 (1) Temporary relief while the case is pending. 1
406406 (2) Reinstatement with the same seniority sta-2
407407 tus that the individual would have had, but for the 3
408408 discharge or discrimination. 4
409409 (3) Twice the amount of back pay otherwise 5
410410 owed to the individual, with interest. 6
411411 (4) Consequential and compensatory damages, 7
412412 and compensation for litigation costs, expert witness 8
413413 fees, and reasonable attorneys’ fees. 9
414414 (c) W
415415 AIVER OFRIGHTS ANDREMEDIES.—The rights 10
416416 and remedies provided for in this section shall not be 11
417417 waived by any policy form or condition of employment, in-12
418418 cluding by a predispute arbitration agreement. 13
419419 (d) P
420420 REDISPUTEARBITRATIONAGREEMENTS.—No 14
421421 predispute arbitration agreement shall be valid or enforce-15
422422 able if the agreement requires arbitration of a dispute 16
423423 arising under this section. 17
424424 SEC. 6. ENFORCEMENT. 18
425425 (a) E
426426 NFORCEMENT BY THE COMMISSION.— 19
427427 (1) U
428428 NFAIR AND DECEPTIVE ACTS OR PRAC -20
429429 TICES.—A violation of this Act shall be treated as 21
430430 a violation of a rule defining an unfair or deceptive 22
431431 act or practice under section 18(a)(1)(B) of the Fed-23
432432 eral Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 24
433433 57a(a)(1)(B)). 25
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437437 (2) POWERS OF THE COMMISSION .— 1
438438 (A) I
439439 N GENERAL.—Except as provided in 2
440440 subparagraph (C), the Commission shall enforce 3
441441 this Act in the same manner, by the same 4
442442 means, and with the same jurisdiction, powers, 5
443443 and duties as though all applicable terms and 6
444444 provisions of the Federal Trade Commission 7
445445 Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.) were incorporated 8
446446 into and made a part of this Act. 9
447447 (B) P
448448 RIVILEGES AND IMMUNITIES .—Sub-10
449449 ject to paragraph (3), any person who violates 11
450450 this Act shall be subject to the penalties and 12
451451 entitled to the privileges and immunities pro-13
452452 vided in the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 14
453453 U.S.C. 41 et seq.). 15
454454 (C) N
455455 ONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS AND IN -16
456456 SURANCE.—Notwithstanding section 4 or 6 of 17
457457 the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 18
458458 44, 46), section 2 of McCarran-Ferguson Act 19
459459 (15 U.S.C. 1012), or any other jurisdictional 20
460460 limitation of the Commission, the Commission 21
461461 shall also enforce this Act, in the same manner 22
462462 provided in subparagraphs (A) and (B) of this 23
463463 paragraph, with respect to— 24
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467467 (i) organizations not organized to 1
468468 carry on business for their own profit or 2
469469 that of their members; and 3
470470 (ii) the business of insurance, and 4
471471 persons engaged in such business. 5
472472 (D) A
473473 UTHORITY PRESERVED .—Nothing in 6
474474 this section shall be construed to limit the au-7
475475 thority of the Commission under any other pro-8
476476 vision of law. 9
477477 (3) P
478478 ENALTIES.— 10
479479 (A) A
480480 DDITIONAL CIVIL PENALTY .—In ad-11
481481 dition to any penalty applicable under the Fed-12
482482 eral Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et 13
483483 seq.), any person that violates this Act shall be 14
484484 liable for a civil penalty of not more than 15
485485 $1,000,000. 16
486486 (B) M
487487 ETHOD.—The penalties provided by 17
488488 subparagraph (A) shall be obtained in the same 18
489489 manner as civil penalties imposed under section 19
490490 18(a)(1)(B) of the Federal Trade Commission 20
491491 Act (15 U.S.C. 57a(a(1)(B). 21
492492 (C) M
493493 ULTIPLE OFFENSES ; MITIGATING 22
494494 FACTORS.—In assessing a penalty under sub-23
495495 paragraph (A)— 24
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499499 (i) each day of a continuing violation 1
500500 shall be considered a separate violation; 2
501501 and 3
502502 (ii) the court shall take into consider-4
503503 ation, among other factors— 5
504504 (I) the seriousness of the viola-6
505505 tion; 7
506506 (II) the efforts of the person 8
507507 committing the violation to remedy 9
508508 the harm caused by the violation in a 10
509509 timely manner; and 11
510510 (III) whether the violation was 12
511511 intentional. 13
512512 (b) E
513513 NFORCEMENT BY STATES.— 14
514514 (1) I
515515 N GENERAL.—If the attorney general of a 15
516516 State has reason to believe that an interest of the 16
517517 residents of the State has been or is being threat-17
518518 ened or adversely affected by a practice that violates 18
519519 this Act, the attorney general of the State may bring 19
520520 a civil action on behalf of the residents of the State 20
521521 in an appropriate district court of the United States 21
522522 to obtain appropriate relief. 22
523523 (2) R
524524 IGHTS OF THE COMMISSION .— 23
525525 (A) N
526526 OTICE TO THE COMMISSION .— 24
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530530 (i) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided 1
531531 in clause (iii), the attorney general of a 2
532532 State, before initiating a civil action under 3
533533 paragraph (1), shall provide written notifi-4
534534 cation to the Commission that the attorney 5
535535 general intends to bring such civil action. 6
536536 (ii) C
537537 ONTENTS.—The notification re-7
538538 quired under clause (i) shall include a copy 8
539539 of the complaint to be filed to initiate the 9
540540 civil action. 10
541541 (iii) E
542542 XCEPTION.—If it is not feasible 11
543543 for the attorney general of a State to pro-12
544544 vide the notification required under clause 13
545545 (i) before initiating a civil action under 14
546546 paragraph (1), the attorney general shall 15
547547 notify the Commission immediately upon 16
548548 instituting the civil action. 17
549549 (B) I
550550 NTERVENTION BY THE COMMIS -18
551551 SION.—The Commission may— 19
552552 (i) intervene in any civil action 20
553553 brought by the attorney general of a State 21
554554 under paragraph (1); and 22
555555 (ii) upon intervening— 23
556556 (I) be heard on all matters aris-24
557557 ing in the civil action; and 25
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561561 (II) file petitions for appeal of a 1
562562 decision in the civil action. 2
563563 (3) C
564564 ONSTRUCTION.— 3
565565 (A) P
566566 OWERS CONFERRED ON THE ATTOR -4
567567 NEY GENERAL OF A STATE .—Nothing in this 5
568568 subsection may be construed to prevent the at-6
569569 torney general of a State from exercising the 7
570570 powers conferred on the attorney general by the 8
571571 laws of the State to conduct investigations, to 9
572572 administer oaths or affirmations, or to compel 10
573573 the attendance of witnesses or the production of 11
574574 documentary or other evidence. 12
575575 (B) ERISA.—No civil action brought pur-13
576576 suant to this subsection shall conflict with the 14
577577 Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 15
578578 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.). 16
579579 (4) V
580580 ENUE; SERVICE OF PROCESS.— 17
581581 (A) V
582582 ENUE.—Any action brought under 18
583583 paragraph (1) may be brought in— 19
584584 (i) the district court of the United 20
585585 States that meets applicable requirements 21
586586 relating to venue under section 1391 of 22
587587 title 28, United States Code; or 23
588588 (ii) another court of competent juris-24
589589 diction. 25
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593593 (B) SERVICE OF PROCESS.—In an action 1
594594 brought under paragraph (1), process may be 2
595595 served in any district in which— 3
596596 (i) the defendant is an inhabitant, 4
597597 may be found, or transacts business; or 5
598598 (ii) venue is proper under section 6
599599 1391 of title 28, United States Code. 7
600600 (5) A
601601 CTIONS BY OTHER STATE OFFICIALS .— 8
602602 (A) I
603603 N GENERAL.—If an attorney general 9
604604 lacks appropriate jurisdiction to bring a civil ac-10
605605 tion under paragraph (1), any other officer of 11
606606 a State who is authorized by the State to do so 12
607607 may bring a civil action under paragraph (1), 13
608608 subject to the same requirements and limita-14
609609 tions that apply under this subsection to civil 15
610610 actions brought by attorneys general. 16
611611 (B) C
612612 LARIFICATION OF AUTHORITY .—The 17
613613 authority provided by subparagraph (A) shall 18
614614 supplant, and not supplement, the authorities of 19
615615 State attorneys general under paragraph (1). 20
616616 (C) S
617617 AVINGS PROVISION.—Nothing in this 21
618618 subsection may be construed to prohibit an au-22
619619 thorized official of a State from initiating or 23
620620 continuing any proceeding in a court of the 24
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624624 State for a violation of any civil or criminal law 1
625625 of the State. 2
626626 (c) A
627627 FFIRMATIVEDEFENSE.— 3
628628 (1) I
629629 N GENERAL.—In an action brought under 4
630630 this section to enforce section 2, it shall be an af-5
631631 firmative defense, on which the defendant has the 6
632632 burden of persuasion by a preponderance of the evi-7
633633 dence, that the conduct alleged to be a violation of 8
634634 section 2 was nonpretextual and reasonably nec-9
635635 essary to— 10
636636 (A) prevent a violation of, or comply with, 11
637637 Federal or State law; 12
638638 (B) protect patient safety; or 13
639639 (C) protect patient access. 14
640640 (2) C
641641 LARIFICATION.—Nothing in this sub-15
642642 section shall be construed to prohibit a defendant 16
643643 from raising any other affirmative defense available. 17
644644 SEC. 7. PROTECTION OF PERSONAL HEALTH INFORMA-18
645645 TION. 19
646646 In making any disclosure or report required by this 20
647647 Act, a pharmacy benefit manager (including their affili-21
648648 ates, subsidiaries, and agents) shall not include any infor-22
649649 mation that would identify a patient or a provider that 23
650650 issued a prescription. 24
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654654 SEC. 8. EFFECT ON STATE LAWS. 1
655655 Nothing in this Act shall be construed to preempt, 2
656656 displace, or supplant any State laws, rules, regulations, 3
657657 or requirements, or the enforcement thereof. 4
658658 SEC. 9. DEFINITIONS. 5
659659 In this Act: 6
660660 (1) C
661661 OMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 7
662662 means the Federal Trade Commission. 8
663663 (2) C
664664 OVERED INDIVIDUAL.—The term ‘‘covered 9
665665 individual’’ means a current or former employee, 10
666666 contractor, subcontractor, service provider, or agent 11
667667 of a pharmacy benefit manager, health plan, phar-12
668668 maceutical manufacturer, pharmacy, or any affiliate, 13
669669 subsidiary, or agent thereof. 14
670670 (3) H
671671 EALTH PLAN.—The term ‘‘health plan’’ 15
672672 means any group or individual health insurance plan 16
673673 or coverage, including any health insurance plan or 17
674674 coverage sponsored or funded by the Federal Gov-18
675675 ernment or the government of any State, Territory, 19
676676 or subdivision thereof. 20
677677 (4) P
678678 HARMACY BENEFIT MANAGER .—The term 21
679679 ‘‘pharmacy benefit manager’’ means any entity that 22
680680 provides pharmacy benefit management services on 23
681681 behalf of a health plan, a payer, or health insurance 24
682682 issuer. 25
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686686 (5) PHARMACY BENEFIT MANAGEMENT SERV -1
687687 ICES.—The term ‘‘pharmacy benefit management 2
688688 services’’ means, pursuant to a written agreement 3
689689 with a payer or health plan offering group or indi-4
690690 vidual health insurance coverage, directly or through 5
691691 an intermediary, the service of— 6
692692 (A) negotiating terms and conditions, in-7
693693 cluding rebates and price concessions, with re-8
694694 spect to a prescription drug on behalf of the 9
695695 health plan, coverage, or payer; or 10
696696 (B) managing the prescription drug bene-11
697697 fits provided by the health plan, coverage, or 12
698698 payer, which may include formulary manage-13
699699 ment the processing and payment of claims for 14
700700 prescription drugs, the performance of drug uti-15
701701 lization review, the processing of drug prior au-16
702702 thorization requests, the adjudication of appeals 17
703703 or grievances related to the prescription drug 18
704704 benefit, contracting with network pharmacies, 19
705705 or the provision of related services. 20
706706 (6) P
707707 RESCRIPTION DRUG.—The term ‘‘prescrip-21
708708 tion drug’’ means— 22
709709 (A) a drug, as that term is defined in sec-23
710710 tion 201(g) of the Federal Food, Drug, and 24
711711 Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 321(g)), that is— 25
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715715 (i) approved by the Food and Drug 1
716716 Administration under section 505 of such 2
717717 Act (21 U.S.C. 355); and 3
718718 (ii) subject to the requirements of sec-4
719719 tion 503(b)(1) of such Act (21 U.S.C. 5
720720 353(b)(1)); 6
721721 (B) a biological product as that term is de-7
722722 fined in section 351 of the Public Health Serv-8
723723 ice Act (42 U.S.C. 262(i)(1)); or 9
724724 (C) a product that is biosimilar to, or 10
725725 interchangeable with, a biologic product under 11
726726 section 351 of the Public Health Service Act 12
727727 (42 U.S.C. 262(i)). 13
728728 Æ
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