Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) yesterday signed legislation to stop insurers and their pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) from discriminating against 340B grantee covered entities and their contract pharmacies. Hospitals are excluded from protection.
The new law takes effect July 1. The state House passed the legislation 96-3 in February and the state Senate passed it 40-0 in March.
It prohibits insurers and PBMs from imposing requirements, exclusions, reimbursement terms, or other conditions on a 340B grantee covered entity or contract pharmacy that differ from those applied to providers or pharmacies that do not participate in 340B.
The prohibitions do not apply to drugs with an annual estimated per-patient cost above $250,000. Also, the law lets insurers and PBMs require pharmacies to identify claims for prescriptions filled with 340B-purchased drugs.
The bill reportedly was written to protect non-hospital entities only to avoid potential opposition and improve its odds of becoming law.
Similar bills have been passed this year in Illinois, Nebraska, and Michigan.
