US, Texas Senate passes contract transparency bill

The Senate of the US state of Texas has unanimously passed SB 1834 by Senator Glen Hegar (Republican, city of Katy), the first of a series of bills before the legislature calling for transparency in contracts between the state and pharmacy benefit managers. The bill follows a national trend led by the nation's top employers and numerous other states.

CSHB 3454 by Representative Bill Callegari (Republican, Houston) is an omnibus PBM transparency contracting bill that follows standards developed by a coalition of senior human resource executives representing nearly every major industry in the US, including Dell, Home Depot and Caterpillar.

The problem with PBMs now is they strayed from their original purpose of saving prescription drug costs for their clients into money-making middlemen. "They keep much of the negotiated price breaks for themselves, and do so without our knowledge," said Rep Callegari.