When States Get Fed Up: What Real PBM Enforcement Actually Looks Like
A few states stopped waiting for someone else to fix this. Here's what they did — and why the rest of the country needs to pay attention.
PBM ReformState PolicyCommunity PharmacyFairRx
Let's be honest — for a long time, PBM enforcement felt like something nobody really wanted to own. Statutes existed. Violations were happening in plain sight. But the political will to actually do something about it? That was another story. Regulators were handed these laws with little guidance, pharmacies were absorbing losses they couldn't explain, and the PBMs kept right on operating.
That's starting to change. Not everywhere, not all at once — but in Arkansas, Oklahoma, West Virginia, and Tennessee, something shifted. Enforcement stopped feeling like a burden and started looking like a legitimate path to accountability. And the model they've built deserves a lot more attention than it's getting.
The mindset change that made it possible
The legal tools were already there — they just weren't being used. Regulators at Departments of Insurance and Departments of Justice have authority to examine whether PBMs are actually paying community pharmacies what the contract says, and whether those rates hold up against what PBMs pay their own affiliated pharmacies. When they started looking, what they found wasn't surprising to anyone in the pharmacy world. It was just finally documented.
That documentation is what makes the rest possible. Audit findings support consent orders. Consent orders justify fines. Fines — even modest ones — create a paper trail that legislators can see, point to, and get angry about. And legislators getting angry about documented PBM abuse is exactly how bills like Tennessee's FairRx Act start gaining real traction.
Yes, the fines are small. That's not really the point.
Pharmacists will tell you straight up, a fine against a major PBM is basically nothing to them. These are billion-dollar operations. A penalty that might devastate a small business is something they absorb without blinking. That reality is frustrating, and it's worth saying out loud.
But the fines aren't the endgame. The money collected goes back into the enforcement agency, funding investigators, supporting future audits, building the institutional capacity to keep the pressure on. And the pattern of documented violations is what actually puts PBMs in a difficult position. Because the real threat to their model isn't a six-figure fine. It's losing market access in a state. It's breakup of the vertical integration that makes their business work. Those are the consequences that create genuine leverage.
"The real threat to the PBM model isn't a fine. It's a state deciding they've seen enough and restricting access altogether."
An audit report that should be in every state capitol
One of the most useful things any pharmacy advocate can do right now is put the Tennessee TDCI audit of CVS Caremark in front of their legislators and regulators. Not as a complaint - as evidence. This isn't a pharmacy association venting. It's a state regulator documenting, in official findings, what happens when a major PBM operates without meaningful oversight.
The reason it matters beyond Tennessee is the argument it makes by existing: this isn't a regional problem. PBMs aren't operating differently in states that haven't audited them. They're just operating without anyone looking. The audit gives other states a concrete example of what to look for - and what they'll likely find when they do.
What other states and pharmacies can do right now
The path forward isn't complicated, but it does require showing up consistently. Here's where the focus needs to be:
- File every appeal. When a PBM underpays or claws back a reimbursement without adequate justification, appeal it. Every documented appeal becomes data. That data is what regulators and legislators need to see the pattern — not just hear about it. Appeals also create a formal record that can support enforcement actions and, eventually, litigation.
- Get active in your state pharmacy association. Not just a member on paper — actually show up. Attend meetings, join committees, volunteer for advocacy days at the statehouse. Your association is one of the few organizations positioned to move legislators and regulators at the same time, but only if the people filling the room are pharmacies with real stories to tell. Not sure which association covers your state? The NASPA member directory is a good place to start.
- Engage legislators directly, not just at crisis moments. Don't wait for a bad bill to show up before calling your state rep. Build those relationships before you need them. Bring audit documents. Share real numbers from your own pharmacy.
- Push for adoption of audit frameworks. States that haven't started enforcement often haven't started because no one gave them a roadmap. Connecting regulators with the audit models that have worked in Tennessee, Arkansas, and Oklahoma removes the excuse that they don't know where to begin.
- Share enforcement documents across state lines. The Tennessee audit isn't just useful in Tennessee. Every state pharmacy association and advocacy group should have it — and be walking into their state agencies with it.
- Support legislation modeled on what's already passing. The FairRx framework exists. States don't need to start from scratch. They need advocates willing to do the legwork of getting it introduced and moving.
The PBM model depends on fragmentation, on pharmacies, states, and advocacy groups not talking to each other, not coordinating, not building cumulative pressure. The states that have pushed back successfully did so by doing the opposite. It's not glamorous work. It's audits and appeals and follow-up calls and legislative testimony. But it's working.
Your pharmacy's data is more powerful that you think.
Pharmacy Marketplace helps independent pharmacies track reimbursements, identify underpayments, and build the documentation that supports appeals and enforcement actions. The pharmacies leading this fight aren't doing it alone, and you don't have to either.
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