A new report from Iowa Auditor of State Rob Sand underscores growing concerns that pharmacy benefit managers are using pricing tactics that drive up costs for taxpayers while squeezing community pharmacies. Although the full financial impact could not be calculated due to withheld data, the report identified approximately $100 million in back-end value tied to these adjustments over a three-year period for just one PBM.
The report emphasizes that PBMs denied access to key financial records, preventing a complete evaluation of compliance. Auditor Sand said, “...PBMs may be using the same end-run as they use in other states to skirt a ban on pricing that exploits taxpayers: burying the banned practice in unavailable and convoluted data across an entire year.”
Read the report here.
