Illinois
The Department of Healthcare and Family Services released an updated Preferred Drug List.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Leigh Knotts at 803-243-7207.
Indiana
Gov. Mike Braun (R) signed into law SB 140, PBM reform legislation establishing commercial reimbursement floors. The bill, effective January 1, 2026, requires reimbursement not less than the greater of the reimbursement level paid to PBM-owned or affiliated pharmacies, one of the following reimbursement methodologies depending on whether pharmacies hold permits to sell liquor. For pharmacies not holding permits to sell liquor, the reimbursement floor is NADAC, plus the professional dispensing fee from the Medicaid fee-for-service program. For pharmacies holding permits to sell liquor, the rate floor will be the actual acquisition cost (AAC) plus a “fair and reasonable” dispensing fee.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Mary Staples at 817-442-1155.
Kansas
The Department of Health and Environment issued two bulletins for paying pharmacists for services. The Stand-Alone Vaccine Counseling and Pharmacists bulletin authorizes pharmacists to provide and bill for vaccine counseling services for patients under the age of 21 years, retroactive to April 1, 2025. The Pharmacist as Provider, Emergency Opioid Antagonists and Medication Therapy Management adds payment for the extra counseling required when pharmacists dispense emergency opioid agonists (EOA) using the statewide protocol, commonly referred to as the naloxone protocol. This should be billed with the date of service dispensed and counseled, retroactive to January 1, 2025.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Mary Staples at 817-442-1155.
Maine
The Joint Committee on Appropriations and Financial Affairs met daily the week of May 12 for budget work sessions. The Chairs have yet to bring up the pharmacy tax. The bill remains pending before the joint committee. NACDS, working with the Maine Pharmacists Association and Retail Association of Maine, helped advocate against a potential "compromise" that would have exempted the independent pharmacies from the tax. While being fundamentally unfair, that compromise would have negated the federal match, eliminating the tax's utility. NACDS will continue to lobby the Governor's office and the legislature throughout the budget process. The bill must be moved by the Joint Appropriations Committee and approved by both chambers of the legislature. The fiscal year ends June 30.
For more information, please contact NACDS’ Mike Sargent at 207-272-6435.
Minnesota
As the General Assembly enters its last week of the session, both the House and Senate have passed our priority PBM reform language in their respective health omnibus bills, HF 2435 and SF 2669. The bills are now on their way to conference committee to hammer out differences. (HF 2435/SF 2669). The provisions would reform the Medicaid pharmacy program under a single state-directed pharmacy benefit administrator. The bills require a rate floor of AAC + $11.55 and include prohibitions on questionable PBM business practices. Also included is a provision changing the cost of dispensing study frequency from every three years to biannually.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Jill McCormack at 717-592-8977.
New Hampshire
On May 21, the Board of Pharmacy will hold its regular monthly meeting. The agenda includes the following:
- NABP Update
- Administrative Rules and Legislative Topics
- Hearings
- Office of Professional Licensure and Certification (OPLC) Updates
- Memo from Executive Director Deanna Jurius
- 50 State Drug Compounding Meeting June 4-5
- Public Comments
- Board of Pharmacy Research Organization Registration
- NH Program Flyer
- PH 300 Public Comment
- Non Public Session
For more information, please contact NACDS’ Mike Sargent at 207-272-6435.
New Jersey
On May 15, the New Jersey Assembly Committee on Financial Institutions and Insurance held a hearing. During this hearing, the committee received testimony from invited guests concerning pharmacy benefit managers, their place within the broader health insurance system and their impact on prescription drug prices. The invited speakers included Dr. Pragya Kakani, Assistant Professor of Population Health Sciences, Well Cornell Medical College, and Anna Kaltenboeck, President, Verdant Research. They spoke about the PBM relationships with affiliated and unaffiliated pharmacies and the FTC reports. NACDS attended the hearing and will continue to support PBM reform efforts in New Jersey.
For more information, please contact NACDS’ Mike Sargent at 207-272-6435.
North Carolina
The legislative session has reached the crossover deadline, the point by which bills must pass their chamber of origin to remain viable this session. Bills that did not meet this deadline are ineligible for carryover to 2026. However, the crossover rule does not apply to budget and appropriations bills, study bills, local bills or constitutional amendments.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Leigh Knotts at 803-243-7207.
Oklahoma
NACDS sent Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) a letter asking him to sign SB 806, the Food is Medicine bill that would improve access to essential nutrition services for Medicaid beneficiaries and incentivize improvements in their health, utilizing an 1115 waiver.
Also in Oklahoma, SB 789 was amended in the House removing the rate floor language that triggered the fiscal note, and returned to the Senate for concurrence.
Finally in Oklahoma, SB 906, legislation that empowers pharmacists to optimize the pharmacy technician workforce and delegate more administrative and technical activities that do not require a pharmacist's by expanding the pharmacist-to-pharmacy technician ratio to 4:1, passed both houses and was sent to Gov. Kevin Stitt (R). NACDS sent a support letter asking Gov. Stitt (R) to sign the bill into law.
For more information, contact NACDS’ Mary Staples at 817-442-1155.