PAYER DIRECTED DRUG DISTRIBUTION MODELS

To advocate that insurers and pharmacy benefit managers be prohibited from mandating drug distribution models that introduce patient safety and supply chain risks or limit patient choice.

Rationale

Hospitals and health systems have a responsibility to confirm drug product integrity and pedigree to ensure safe and appropriate administration of drug products. Drug products supplied to a hospital or health system without an institution’s direct oversight raise questions about the product’s proper storage and pedigree. These drug products include patients’ home drug products, including clinician-administered pharmaceuticals (i.e., brown bagging) brought in by the patient or caregiver, and clinician-administered pharmaceuticals shipped from an external pharmacy directly to the location where they are being administered (i.e., white bagging).

Due to patient safety and supply chain risks, hospitals and health systems should advocate for action from boards of pharmacy to directly address payer-mandated drug distribution models and encourage state policymakers to prohibit insurers and PBMs from mandating white and brown bagging, including prohibiting insurers and PBMs from steering patients away from hospitals and health systems that refuse to accept potentially dangerous white-bagged or brown-bagged drug products.