South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) signed into law HB 1135, PBM legislation brought from the South Dakota Pharmacists Association and introduced by Rep. Mike Weisgram (R). This new law includes several provisions designed to enhance transparency, establish oversight, and promote fair competition in the pharmacy industry. Among its key provisions, the law prohibits retroactive and other types of fees, adds MAC pricing protections, and prohibits reimbursement discrimination against pharmacies that are not owned by or affiliated with PBMs. By enacting this legislation, South Dakota is taking proactive steps to protect pharmacies and consumers from unfair business practices by PBMs and promoting greater transparency and accountability in the pharmacy industry.

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) signed HB 1135, PBM legislation brought from the South Dakota Pharmacists Association and introduced by Rep. Mike Weisgram (R). Among its provisions, the law enhances transparency, creates oversight, prohibits retroactive and other types of fees, adds MAC pricing protections, and prohibits reimbursement discrimination against pharmacies not owned by or affiliated with PBMs.

South Dakota pharmacists believe a new bill would provide more transparency in prescription drug pricing by pharmaceutical companies. That bill, HB 1135, unanimously passed the House Commerce and Energy Committee after over an hour and a half of discussion and testimony at the Capitol in Pierre. The bill would “level the playing field” between independent pharmacies and pharmacy benefit managers, which act as the middleman in the drug supply chain between manufacturers and consumers, said Craig Matson, a lobbyist with the South Dakota Pharmacists Association.

South Dakota’s Senate Health and Human Services Committee just voted a new PBM bill, SB 163, out of committee. SB 163 would prohibit PBMs from reimbursing non-affiliate pharmacies less than affiliate pharmacies, allow a pharmacist to decline to dispense if the reimbursement is below acquisition cost, prohibit PBM imposed fees and retroactive claim adjustment (or “clawbacks”), provide for MAC appeals, and prohibit discriminatory payments for 340B prescriptions. In effect, the bill would tighten PBM regulations, open up opportunities for pharmacies, and better support patient care. SB 163 now moves to the full state Senate for further consideration.

The largest health care providers in South Dakota have proposed to lawmakers that they should drop some requirements for people seeking medical marijuana cards. Physicians would still need to diagnose a patient with a qualified condition (severe pain, seizures, multiple sclerosis), but they just would not need to specify that they recommend marijuana as a treatment. Starting July 1, 2021, cannabis is now legal for both medicinal and recreational use in South Dakota. This proposal will help increase access while some doctors are still hesitant to explicitly prescribe cannibas as treatment while it is still a newly legalized substance.

HB 1263 was passed into law by Governor Kristi Noem on March 25, 2021. This new law provides greater transparency in pricing for health care related costs.