Fighting For Rural & Community Pharmacies
Pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) need to be held accountable for the alarming number of small town pharmacies they have closed due to unfair business practices. PBMs are middleman companies that pay pharmacists for prescription drugs dispensed to insurance beneficiaries. The General Assembly passed Act 900 in 2015 to require Arkansas pharmacies be reimbursed by PBMs at fair rates. The law was necessary because more than 16% of rural pharmacies had closed in recent years due to declining PBM payments on generic prescriptions causing Arkansans to be unable to receive necessary medications.
Press Releases
February 8, 2018 - Rutledge to Investigate Reimbursement Rates from CVS Caremark
February 13, 2018 - Rutledge Praises White House’s Recommendation on PBMs
May 11, 2018 - Rutledge Applauds President Trump’s Plan to Lower Prescription Drug Prices
December 15, 2019 - Rutledge Applauds U.S. Solicitor General’s Brief Supporting Arkansas Before U.S. Supreme Court
January 10, 2020 - Rutledge Applauds U.S. Supreme Court Decision to Hear Arkansas’s Case against PBMs
February 21, 2020 - U.S. Supreme Court Reveals Rutledge’s PBM Argument Date
February 25, 2020 - Rutledge Files PBM Brief with U.S. Supreme Court
March 3, 2020 - Broad-Based Support for Rutledge’s SCOTUS Case Shows Need to Regulate PBMs
Legal Documents
Follow the links below to view legal documents below related to Rutledge v. Pharmaceutical Care Management Association, No. 18-540.Arkansas Attorney General Brief Filed with United States Supreme Court
Joint Appendix to State of Arkansas Brief
Arkansas's Petition for a Writ of Certiorari