SB2047

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that pharmacy benefit managers are third party administrators that contract with health plans, employers, unions, and government entities to manage prescription drug programs on behalf of health plan beneficiaries. Over the past decade, the role of pharmacy benefit managers in the delivery of health care has significantly increased. However, a recent report has found that pharmacy benefit managers have had an adverse impact on the overall costs and prices of prescription drugs.

The legislature further finds that a maximum allowable cost list is a list of the maximum amounts that a pharmacy benefit manager will reimburse a pharmacy for various drugs. In general, no two maximum allowable cost lists are alike and will vary according to the drug, pharmacy benefit manager, and plan sponsor. However, the lack of transparency surrounding maximum allowable cost pricing has enabled pharmacy benefit managers to pay aggressively low reimbursements to pharmacies, while charging significantly higher amounts for the same drug to plan sponsors. This large discrepancy between the list price of prescription drugs and the transaction price often results in much higher patient copayments.

The legislature also finds that nearly all health plans require some level of cost sharing, either via a fixed copayment or some percentage of the cost of care. However, in certain situations, a pharmacy benefit manager may set an insurance copayment at a higher amount than the actual cost of the medication and later take back the excess amount from a pharmacy, in a practice known as copay clawbacks.

The legislature additionally finds that the State had previously regulated pharmacy benefit manager maximum allowable cost lists under section 326-106, Hawaii Revised Statutes, but later repealed these requirements under Act 207, Session Laws of Hawaii 2023, because the law placed the regulatory responsibility on the department of health, which lacked the expertise to oversee what was intended as a price control function. The law also did not provide an adequate remedy for violations or an appropriate enforcement mechanism or incentives for pharmacy benefit managers to comply with disclosure of maximum allowable cost lists. However, after repealing section 326-106, Hawaii Revised Statutes, no laws were enacted to regulate maximum allowable cost lists for pharmacy benefit managers.

Finally, the legislature further finds that it is appropriate to restore statutory protections relating to pharmacy benefit managers maximum allowable cost lists within chapter 431R, Hawaii Revised Statutes, that governs prescription drug benefits, under the purview of the department of commerce and consumer affairs, to strengthen the ability of pharmacies to receive timely maximum allowable cost lists, establish a complaints process for violations, and clarify penalties to encourage transparency amongst pharmacy benefit managers while protecting the State's independent pharmacies and consumers.

Accordingly, the purpose of this Act is to:

(1) Establish requirements for pharmacy benefit managers that reimburse contracting pharmacies for drugs on a maximum allowable cost basis, including contents of contracts, maximum allowable cost lists, and maximum allowable cost reports, and complaint process; and

(2) Require pharmacy benefit managers to disclose lower‑priced equivalent drugs when a maximum allowable cost is upheld on appeal and allow contracting pharmacies to reverse and rebill claims if a maximum allowable cost is denied on appeal and recoup any overpayment.

SECTION 2. Chapter 431R, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"§431R- Pharmacy benefit manager; maximum allowable cost. (a) A pharmacy benefit manager that reimburses a contracting pharmacy for a drug on a maximum allowable cost basis shall comply with the requirements of this section.

(b) The pharmacy benefit manager shall include the following in the contract information with a contracting pharmacy:

(1) Information identifying any national drug pricing compendia; or

(2) Other data sources for the maximum allowable cost list.

(c) The pharmacy benefit manager shall make available to a contracting pharmacy upon request, a comprehensive report for all drugs on the maximum allowable cost list for a plan, which contains the most up-to-date maximum allowable cost price or prices used by the pharmacy benefit manager for patients served by the pharmacy, in a readily accessible and secure electronic or usable web-based format.

(d) A drug shall not be included on a maximum allowable cost list or reimbursed on a maximum allowable cost basis unless all of the following apply:

(1) The drug is listed as "A" or "B" rated in the most recent version of the Orange Book or has a rating of "NR", "NA", or similar rating by a nationally recognized reference;

(2) The drug is generally available for purchase in this State from a national or regional wholesaler; and

(3) The drug is not obsolete.

(e) The pharmacy benefit manager shall review and make necessary adjustments to the maximum allowable cost of each drug on a maximum allowable cost list at least once every seven days using the most recent data sources available, and shall apply the updated maximum allowable cost list beginning that same day to reimburse the contracting pharmacy until the pharmacy benefit manager next updates the maximum allowable cost list in accordance with this section.

(f) The pharmacy benefit manager shall have a clearly defined process for a contracting pharmacy to appeal the maximum allowable cost for a drug on a maximum allowable cost list that complies with all of the following:

(1) A contracting pharmacy may base its appeal on one or more of the following:

(A) The maximum allowable cost for a drug is below the cost at which the drug is available for purchase by similarly situated pharmacies in this State from a national or regional wholesaler; or

(B) The drug does not meet the requirements of subsection (d) for reimbursement on a maximum allowable cost basis;

(2) A contracting pharmacy shall be provided no less than fourteen business days following receipt of payment for a claim to file the appeal with the pharmacy benefit manager;

(3) The pharmacy benefit manager shall make a final determination on the contracting pharmacy's appeal no later than fourteen business days after the pharmacy benefit manager's receipt of the appeal;

(4) If the maximum allowable cost is upheld on appeal, the pharmacy benefit manager shall provide to the contracting pharmacy the reason therefor and the national drug code of an equivalent drug that may be purchased by a similarly situated pharmacy at a price that is equal to or less than the maximum allowable cost of the drug that is the subject of the appeal; and

(5) If the maximum allowable cost is not upheld on appeal, the pharmacy benefit manager shall adjust, for the appealing contracting pharmacy, the maximum allowable cost of the drug that is the subject of the appeal, within one calendar day of the date of the decision on the appeal and allow the contracting pharmacy to reverse and rebill the claim that is the subject of the appeal, and all claims for the same drug at the plan level, until the maximum allowable cost list is updated pursuant to subsection (e), to be reimbursed at the maximum allowable cost established by the appeal.

(g) A contracting pharmacy shall not disclose to any third party the maximum allowable cost list and any related information it receives, either directly from a pharmacy benefit manager or through a pharmacy services administrative organization or similar entity with which the pharmacy has a contract to provide administrative services for that pharmacy.

(h) The insurance commissioner may adopt rules pursuant to chapter 91 to establish a process to subject complaints of violations of this section to an external review process, which may be binding on a complaining contracting pharmacy and a pharmacy benefit manager against whom a complaint is made, except to the extent that the parties have other remedies available under applicable federal or state law, and which may assign the costs associated with the external review process to a complaining contracting pharmacy and a pharmacy benefit manager against whom a complaint is made."

SECTION 3. Section 431R-1, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding four new definitions to be appropriately inserted and to read as follows:

""Contracting pharmacy" means an independent pharmacy that is not part of a regional or national chain, or part of a pharmacy services administration organization, and there is no other pharmacy within a ten-mile radius.

"Maximum allowable cost" means the maximum amount that a pharmacy benefit manager shall reimburse a pharmacy for the cost of a drug.

"Maximum allowable cost list" means a list of drugs for which a maximum allowable cost has been established by a pharmacy benefit manager.

"Obsolete" means a drug that may be listed in a national drug pricing compendia but cannot be dispensed based on the expiration date of the last lot manufactured.

"Orange Book" has the same meaning as defined in section 328-91."

SECTION 4. Section 431R-5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:

"(a) The insurance commissioner may assess a fine of up to $10,000 for each violation by a pharmacy benefit manager or prescription drug benefit plan provider who is in violation of section 431R-2 [or], 431R-3[.], or 431R- . In addition, the insurance commissioner may order the pharmacy benefit manager to take specific affirmative corrective action or make restitution."

SECTION 5. Section 328-91, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by deleting the definitions of "maximum allowable cost", "maximum allowable cost list", and "obsolete".

["~~"Maximum allowable cost" means the maximum amount that a pharmacy benefit manager shall reimburse a pharmacy for the cost of a drug.~~

~~"Maximum allowable cost list" means a list of drugs for which a maximum allowable cost has been established by a pharmacy benefit manager.~~

~~"Obsolete" means a drug that may be listed in a national drug pricing compendia but cannot be dispensed based on the expiration date of the last lot manufactured.~~"]

SECTION 6. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 7. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________

THE SENATE	S.B. NO.	2047
THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2026
STATE OF HAWAII