Ohio lawmakers begin new push for drug price transparency legislation

Reps. Scott Lipps, R-Franklin, and Thomas E. West, D-Canton, have reintroduced legislation aimed at increasing price transparency for both consumers and pharmacists (Source: “Lawmakers resume push for transparency, end to gag rules by pharmacy middlemen,” Columbus Dispatch, Feb. 12, 2019).

The House passed the legislation unanimously last year, but after receiving an initial hearing in December, it failed to clear the Senate before the two-year session ended Dec. 31.

Legislators' efforts to rein in pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, come a week after Gov. Mike DeWine ordered the Department of Medicaid to rebid contracts with managed care companies that hire PBMs to negotiate drug prices with manufacturers and rates paid to pharmacists to fill prescriptions.