Sen­ate be­gins quest to de­mys­ti­fy PBM­s' prac­tices as it mulls leg­is­la­tion

The Sen­ate Com­merce Com­mit­tee to­day held a hear­ing in which mem­bers on both sides of the aisle raised ques­tions about the prac­tices of phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal mid­dle­men, known as phar­ma­cy ben­e­fit man­agers, or PBMs.

Sev­er­al sen­a­tors ques­tioned the role PBMs have played in caus­ing in­de­pen­dent phar­ma­cies to close. The role of the com­pa­nies has come un­der in­creas­ing scruti­ny amid con­sol­i­da­tion in the health­care ser­vices in­dus­try. The top three PBMs con­trol 80% of the mar­ket, and are owned by health in­sur­ers Cigna and Unit­ed­Health and by the drug­store gi­ant CVS Health.

Unlock this article instantly by becoming a free subscriber.

You’ll get access to free articles each month, plus you can customize what newsletters get delivered to your inbox each week, including breaking news.

SIGN UP LOG IN BECOME A PREMIUM SUBSCRIBER