Taking the Pulse: A Health Care & Life Sciences Video Podcast | Episode 239: Understanding the 340B Pricing Program with Chuck Melendi of Disruptive Dialogue
Understanding Pharmacy Benefit Managers: The PBM Landscape Explained
EpiPen RICO Ruling Opens Door for Private AKS Enforcement
Part Two: The MFN Drug Pricing Rule and the Rebate Rule: Where Do We Go From Here?
Part One: Two new Medicare Drug Pricing Rules in One Day: What are the MFN and the Rebate Drug Pricing Rules?
Drug Pricing Initiatives During the Trump Presidency
On June 11, 2025, Iowa enacted Senate File 383 (the Act), a comprehensive bill aimed at regulating pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) with the stated goals of increasing transparency, supporting independent pharmacies, and...more
As expected, the lawsuits have commenced following the enactment of the Arkansas legislation prohibiting pharmacy benefit managers (PBM’s) from owning or operating actual pharmacies within the state. Michigan has filed its...more
In recent years, prescription drug prices have been top-of-mind for state legislators, who have responded by passing laws that seek to control that pricing in a variety of ways, including by regulating pharmacy benefit...more
A recent federal court decision has the potential to tip the balance in an ongoing series of skirmishes over state regulation of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs). In McKee Foods Corp. v. BFP Inc. d/b/a/ Thrifty Med Plus...more
The end of 2024 gave group health plan sponsors several new lawsuits to watch in 2025. Gurwitch v. SAVE ON SP LLC - On December 26, 2024, a class action complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District...more
Effective January 1, 2025, Kentucky has new law regulating pharmacy benefit managers (“PBMs”). Earlier this year, the Governor of Kentucky signed SB 188 into law, making Kentucky the latest state to pass legislation...more
A bipartisan group of attorneys general from 31 states and the District of Columbia filed an amicus brief in support of a petition for certiorari by Oklahoma’s insurance commissioner to review a decision by the U.S....more
On January 2, 2024, the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit (“Tenth Circuit”) denied the State of Oklahoma’s motion for a stay pending appeal to the United States Supreme Court and one week later transferred...more
In the final days of October, the New York Department of Financial Services (“DFS) published new regulations regarding assessing, licensing, and recordkeeping for pharmacy benefit managers (“PBM”) while revising existing...more
After several failed attempts by pharmacy benefit managers (“PBM”) to challenge state laws regulating PBMs, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals (in Pharmaceutical Care Management Association v. Mulready) handed down a big win...more
On August 15, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit (the “Tenth Circuit”) issued its decision in Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA) v. Mulready, one of the first major opinions to further define...more
On August 15, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit issued an opinion in Pharmaceutical Care Management Association v. Glen Mulready, in his official capacity as Insurance Commissioner of Oklahoma, Oklahoma...more
In a win for self-funded (i.e., self-insured) health plans subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (ERISA), the Tenth Circuit recently ruled that ERISA preempts provisions of an Oklahoma law...more
ERISA’s notorious preemption clause is no more than a few lines of text. But it has a dramatic effect on the trillions of dollars flowing through ERISA pension and health plans in any given year. The U.S. Supreme Court has...more
On August 15, 2023, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals handed down its opinion in Pharmaceutical Care Management Association v. Mulready (Mulready) holding that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and...more
For plans governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, 29 U.S.C. §§ 1001-1461 (ERISA), the doctrine of federal ERISA preemption over state statutes, regulations or administrative schemes has been a central...more
On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court of the United States issued its highly anticipated decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, No. 19-1392. The Dobbs decision expressly overrules the two key precedents that...more
Recent court trends suggest that preemption under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) may not apply to certain state laws that regulate pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), including state laws governing Maximum...more
In the recent decision Rutledge v. Pharmaceutical Care Management Association, the Supreme Court unanimously affirmed the power of state governments to regulate Prescription Benefit Managers (PBMs) without triggering federal...more
The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent unanimous decision clears the way for state regulation of Pharmacy Benefit Managers (“PBMs”). Rutledge v. Pharm. Care Mgmt. Ass’n, 141 S. Ct. 474 (2020). At issue before the High Court was...more
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled against pharmacy benefit managers (“PBMs”) last month, in a decision that marks a major win for state regulators. (See Rutledge v. Pharmaceutical Care Management Association, 2020 WL 7250098 (U.S....more
Recently, the Supreme Court released its decision in Rutledge v. Pharmaceutical Care Management Association. The case considers whether the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”) preempts an Arkansas state...more
In a recently decided case, Rutledge v. Pharmaceutical Care Management Association, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) does not preempt an Arkansas statute that...more
In the recently-decided Rutledge v. Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (“PCMA”), the Supreme Court found 8–0 (Justice Barrett did not take part) that ERISA did not preempt an Arkansas state law that established...more
On December 10, 2020, the Supreme Court in Rutledge v. Pharmaceutical Care Management Association held that ERISA does not pre-empt an Arkansas law regulating PBM prescription drug payment rates to pharmacies because it...more