A. A pharmacy benefits manager shall not require that a pharmacy participate in one contract in order to participate in another contract.

B. A pharmacy benefits manager shall provide to a pharmacy by electronic mail, facsimile or certified mail, at least thirty calendar days prior to its execution, a contract written in plain English.

C. A contract between a pharmacy benefits manager and a pharmacy shall identify the industry standard reimbursement practice that the pharmacy benefits manager will use to determine a reimbursement amount, unless the contract is modified in writing to specify another industry standard practice.

D. The provisions of the Pharmacy Benefits Manager Regulation Act shall not be waived, voided or nullified by contract.

E. A pharmacy benefits manager shall not:

(1) cause or knowingly permit the use of any advertisement, promotion, solicitation, representation, proposal or offer that is untrue, deceptive or misleading;

(2) require pharmacy validation and revalidation standards inconsistent with, more stringent than or in addition to federal and state requirements for licensure and operation as a pharmacy in this state;

(3) prohibit a pharmacy or pharmacist from:

(a) mailing or delivering drugs to a patient as an ancillary service;

(b) providing a patient information regarding the patient's total cost for pharmacist services for a prescription drug; or

(c) discussing information regarding the total cost for pharmacist services for a prescription drug or from selling a more affordable alternative to the insured if a more affordable alternative is available;

(4) require or prefer a generic drug over its generic therapeutic equivalent;

(5) prohibit, restrict or limit disclosure of information by a pharmacist or pharmacy to the superintendent; or

(6) prohibit, restrict or limit pharmacies or pharmacists from providing to state or federal government officials general information for public policy purposes.

F. A pharmacy benefits manager or health benefit plan shall not impose a fee on a pharmacy for scores or metrics or both scores and metrics. Nothing in this subsection prohibits a pharmacy benefits manager or health benefit plan from offering incentives to a pharmacy based on a score or metric; provided that the incentive is equally available to all in-network pharmacies.

G. Within seven business days of a request by the superintendent or a contracted pharmacy or pharmacist, a pharmacy benefits manager or pharmacy services administrative organization shall provide as appropriate:

(1) a contract;

(2) an agreement;

(3) a claim appeal document;

(4) a disputed claim transaction document or price list; or

(5) any other information specified by law.

H. In a time and manner required by rules promulgated by the superintendent, a pharmacy benefits manager shall issue to the superintendent a network adequacy report describing the pharmacy benefits manager network and the pharmacy benefits manager network's accessibility to insureds statewide.

I. Pursuant to the provisions of Section 59A-4-3 NMSA 1978, the superintendent, or the superintendent's designee, may examine the books, documents, policies, procedures and records of a pharmacy benefits manager to determine compliance with applicable law. The pharmacy benefits manager shall pay the costs of the examination. At the request of a person who provides information in response to a complaint, investigation or examination, the superintendent may deem the information confidential.

History: Laws 2014, ch. 14, § 5; 2019, ch. 269, § 4.

The 2019 amendment, effective July 1, 2019, prohibited certain practices by a pharmacy benefits manager, and required the pharmacy benefits manager to provide certain documents upon request; in the section heading, added "certain practices prohibited; certain disclosures required upon request"; in Subsection B, after "provide to", deleted "the pharmacies" and added "a pharmacy by electronic mail, facsimile or certified mail"; in Subsection C, after "shall", deleted "provide specific time limits for the pharmacy benefits manager to pay the pharmacy for services rendered" and added the remainder of the subsection; and added Subsections D through I.