House Bill 708 Summary

• Reduces the payment deadline for pharmacy benefit managers from 15 days to 7 days for electronically submitted claims, with 35 days for paper claims.

• Prohibits pharmacy benefit managers from retroactively denying or reducing claims after adjudication and establishes requirements for maximum allowable cost lists, including access, timely updates (within 3 calendar days), and administrative appeals.

• Requires pharmacy benefit managers to reimburse independent pharmacies at rates no less than what they reimburse their own affiliated pharmacies for the same services.

• Prohibits pharmacy benefit managers and affiliates from directing patients to affiliated pharmacies through referrals, plan designs, or targeted advertising, and requires annual disclosure of all affiliates.

• Authorizes the State Board of Pharmacy to impose monetary penalties ($1,000-$25,000 per violation) and seek injunctions for violations, and requires board employees with access to proprietary information to undergo criminal background checks with information destroyed within 30 days of becoming unnecessary.