NCPA recently attended the spring meeting of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) in San Diego, Calif., where work continued on drafting a new chapter of the NAIC market conduct manual dedicated to standards for examining PBMs. NCPA has advocated at the NAIC for several years and has been instrumental with the PBM Working Group, which is now prioritizing enforcement.
NCPA recently submitted feedback to the drafting process for the new chapter. While not perfect, the standards reflect a meaningful step forward in which departments of insurance are gaining new peer-to-peer tools and understanding of the challenges PBMs present to pharmacies and the rest of the supply chain.
In a recent virtual meeting to follow up, the PBM Working Group approved a revised version of the draft chapter and referred it to the Market Conduct Examination Guidelines (D) Working Group for its consideration. With PBMs and insurers opposing this process every step of the way, NCPA will look to safeguard the current version of the draft as it continues through the NAIC committee structure.
