Oklahoma PBM law mostly upheld in federal court

On April 4, 2022, an Oklahoma law regulating PBMs was upheld in part and invalidated in part by the U.S. District Court in PCMA v Mulready. The 2019 Oklahoma Patient’s Right to Pharmacy Choice Act contains a number of provisions regulating actions and activities of PBMs. The court ruled in line with the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Rutledge v PCMA affirming that certain state regulation of PBMs is not preempted by ERISA. All of the Oklahoma PBM law’s provisions withstood the ERISA challenge. PCMA also claimed that the Oklahoma law was pre-empted by Medicare Part D. The court found that several provisions of the Oklahoma law were preempted by Medicare Part D, but others were not. APhA will be monitoring closely to see if PCMA challenges this decision.