Pharmacists across Alabama to participate in walkout for PBM reform

ALABAMA (WHNT) — According to the Alabama Pharmacy Association, pharmacists across the state are staging a walkout on Tuesday.

The purpose of this walkout/variety of walkout participation, Jones said, is to start a conversation with patients to address the needed Pharmacy Benefit Manager reform (PBM).

The Patient Access Bill, or SB93, advocates for “patient access and pharmacy survival,” Alabama Pharmacy Association Chief Executive Officer Louise Jones said.

“We have over 100 pharmacies in all areas of Alabama that are participating in some way,” Jones said.

You can read the full bill introduced at the beginning of February below.

Many will gather at the Statehouse in Montgomery that day to advocate for Senate Bill 93 which addresses PBM reform and fair reimbursement, and then will walk over and attend the Alabama Pharmacy Association’s Legislative Reception to continue the advocacy efforts.

To remain accessible to patients, the association said pharmacies will participate in the walkout in a variety of ways. Jones said those who can close for the afternoon will, but that not all will fully shut down.

Jones also said some pharmacies will close for one or two hours in the afternoon, a few are turning their lights down and some are closing their front doors but the drive-through windows will still be open.

The association said PBMs are “middlemen that determine what medications patients can receive, how much patients pay out of pocket for their prescriptions, and how pharmacies are reimbursed for dispensing medications.”

Pharmacies are struggling to keep their doors open as they are often reimbursed for medication at a price lower than their cost of dispensing the medication to the patient. We continue to lose pharmacies across Alabama every month. Originally designed to help reduce the price of prescription drugs, research shows that PBM practices have contributed significantly to the steep increases in prescription costs.
APA

To learn more about the association and the walkout, you can visit its website here.