Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) are increasingly utilizing gag clauses in pharmacy contracts as a means of prohibiting pharmacies from telling customers that paying for drugs out of pocket would cost them less than if they used their insurance and paid their copays. Critics argue that this practice results in artificially inflated prescription drugs costs.

In this episode, Richard Church and Ryan Severson discuss recent litigation stemming from these gag clauses, as well as various state and federal efforts to prohibit PBMs from using gag clauses in their pharmacy contracts, including a proposal in President Trump’s recently released drug pricing plan.

Triage: Rapid Legal Lessons for Busy Health Care Professionals has been created by K&L Gates to convey information about developments in health law through short, five to ten minute podcasts. Catch-up on past episodes by visiting our Triage program page (http://healthcare-triage.klgates-media.libsynpro.com) or subscribe to Triage via your favorite podcast app to have our episodes delivered directly to you as they become available.