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Introduced Version Senate Bill 121 History

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Key: Green = existing Code. Red = new code to be enacted
Senate Bill No. 121

(By Senators Stollings, Plymale, Foster and Jenkins)

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[Introduced January 9, 2008; referred to the Committee on Health and Human Resources; and then to the Committee on Finance.]

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A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated §33-4-22, relating to legislative rule-making authority of the West Virginia Insurance Commissioner; requiring development of a standard format for preferred drug lists and drug formularies; and requiring the format to be maintained and available electronically.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated §33-4-22, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 4. GENERAL PROVISIONS.
§33-4-22. Format for preferred drug lists; rule-making authority.
(a) The commissioner, in consultation with the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Resources, the Director of the Public Employees Insurance Agency and the Board of Pharmacy, shall propose rules for legislative approval in accordance with the provisions of article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code to develop a standardized format for all preferred drug lists or drug formularies used in West Virginia. To the extent jurisdiction exists
, the rules apply to all entities regulated by the Insurance Commissioner as set forth in this chapter, the Bureau for Medical Services within the Department of Health and Human Resources, the Public Employees Insurance Agency within the Department of Administration, all pharmacy benefit managers registered or licensed pursuant to the provisions of this chapter and any other entity that routinely utilizes a preferred drug list or drug formulary for outpatient pharmaceutical s.
(b) The rules required in subsection (a) of this section shall provide:
(1) For a requirement that all preferred drug lists and drug formularies use a standard format, including recognizing that entities may have multiple preferred drug list drugs or drug formularies, that purchasers may change entities or preferred drug lists or drug formularies and that
entities may have preferred drug lists or drug formularies which are used in multiple states ;
(2) As authorized under federal law, that the preferred drug list or drug formulary developed by an entity is valid and reliable for a reasonable period of time and allows for alteration to the preferred drug list or drug formulary if new medications become available on the market, medications become available generically, treatment warnings are issued by agencies of the federal government or nationally recognized health experts or agencies of the federal government allow for additional treatments by the use of previously approved medications; and
(3) That once complete, the preferred drug list or drug formulary is made available electronically on the Internet.
(c) Nothing in this section permits the commissioner to require what substances are included upon any individual preferred drug list or drug
formulary.
(d) No rule promulgated pursuant to the provisions of this section may conflict with the standards developed by the federal government in regard to the Medicare Pharmacy Part D Program.
(e) Any rule promulgated pursuant to the provisions of this section shall be
consistent with standards developed by nationally recognized entities engaged in the establishment of national standards for pharmaceutical point of sale transactions.


NOTE:
The purpose of this bill is to develop a standard format for preferred drug lists or drug formularies and to make all preferred drug lists or drug formularies available in an electronic format.

This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring have been omitted.
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