2024 Pre-session Update
Melissa Reybold, VP of Public Policy
On January 8, the 2024 legislative session will begin. Usually, it takes a day or two to get into the swing of things but considering there was just a special session for redistricting, we are already broken in and ready to go.
Our pharmacy legislator champion, Representative David Knight, was affected with the newly drawn districts during the special session. He will have to face another incumbent, Representative Beth Camp, in the May 21 primary. Representative Knight has been instrumental in sponsoring and passing our PBM legislation over the years and we will fully support him during his campaign.
During the special session, GPhA attended a few committee meetings for legislation that would help advance the practice of pharmacy. We are working with stakeholders and legislators on this initiative and hope this will advance through the legislative process in 2024.
We still have a bill in consideration from the 2023 session. HB 546 is our Prescription Adaptation bill. This will allow pharmacists to use their professional judgement to “adapt” prescriptions for small things to avoid calling doctors and delaying patient care. We are hoping this will cut down on some audits as well.
Lately, we have seen some movement with the PBMs. Back in early fall, PCMA addressed the House Rural Development Council on how PBMs help secure savings, deliver better health outcomes, and support access to quality healthcare. His presentation was titled “Pharmacy Benefit Managers’ Role in Drug Spending.” This was presented on October 25th, but April Fool’s Day would have been more appropriate. Unfortunately, we had conflicts on that day and could not testify at the hearing. We did send questions to some of the committee members to ask during the presentation and PCMA was unable to answer a few of those. Since PCMA’s presentation focused on their role in drug spending, who better to testify at the next meeting than APCI’s (and previously GPhA’s) Greg Reybold? On December 12th, Greg knocked it out of the park with his testimony on how the PBMs are hurting community pharmacies especially in rural areas. He presented published data on how PBMs charge different prices for the same drug on the same day and pointed out that their profits have increased exponentially. He stated that they are still ignoring laws and engaging in patient steering, clawbacks, and brand mandates. After his testimony, we continued our discussion on PBM practices outside of the hearing room with a few legislators that were enraged that these companies are consistently ignoring our laws. Greg and I made recommendations to the committee to have a fair pricing model like NADAC plus a dispensing fee and stronger enforcement of the PBMs. If you would like to watch his testimony, click the link below and scroll to the 1:20 mark.
The Board of Pharmacy had their last meeting of the year on Wednesday, December 13th. In his last meeting as President, Michael Azzolin turned up the heat with a full agenda including a vote at the end of the public meeting for the 2024 officers. Congratulations to President Chuck Page and Vice President Cecil Cordle on your new roles and look forward to working with you in 2024. (President Azzolin didn’t really turn up the heat, but someone did because the room was 81 degrees and we were all dying while Dawn Sasine’s hair got curlier and even more fabulous.)
’Tis the season for attending fundraisers and handing out PAC checks to legislators. Thank you to all of our GPhA members that have helped get those donations to our key lawmakers. GPhA Board member, Thomas Sherrer, recently presented a PharmPAC donation to Representative Devan Seabaugh at his pharmacy earlier this month. Representative Seabaugh sits on the House Public Health Committee and is a big supporter of GPhA.
Thank you to the members that have donated to PharmPAC. Your donations allow us to give the maximum amount allowed to the committee chairs that hear our bills as well as committee members and other legislators that support our efforts. Our success would not be possible without you, and our grass roots have made us a formidable and respected organization under the Gold Dome.
Once session starts, more details on legislation will be included in the updates. I am excited to say we are working together with various stakeholders on a number of initiatives that are beneficial to the profession and the patients of Georgia.
—Melissa Reybold, VP of Public Policy
