§ 278 — Prescription drug retail price lists

§ 278. Prescription drug retail price lists. 1. The department shall\nmake prescription drug retail price lists of pharmacies, with the name\nand address of each pharmacy, available to the public in a database on\nits website at all times. The website shall enable consumers to search\nthe database for drug retail prices of pharmacies selected by zip code\nof the pharmacy and other appropriate factors, including enabling\nconsumers to display and compare prices for one or more selected drugs\nas well as for the full list. The website shall enable consumers to\ndownload and print displayed information. The website shall accommodate\nreasonably anticipated and actual public use of the database. The\ndatabase shall display drug retail prices for the compendium of the one\nhundred fifty most frequently prescribed drugs received by the\ndepartment from the department of education under section sixty-eight\nhundred twenty-six of the education law.\n 2. The department shall extract pharmacy retail price information,\nshowing the actual price to be paid to the pharmacy by a retail\npurchaser for any listed drug at the listed dosage, from usual and\ncustomary price data collected by the medical assistance program under\ntitle eleven of article five of the social services law. Provided,\nhowever, that any pharmacy participating in the medical assistance\nprogram shall provide the usual and customary price data for the one\nhundred fifty most frequently prescribed drugs under section sixty-eight\nhundred twenty-six of the education law to the department through the\nsame mechanism that the usual and customary price data is received under\nthe medical assistance program. If the department is unable to process\nsuch data, the pharmacy shall fax or electronically transmit to the\ndepartment the usual and customary price data for the one hundred fifty\nmost frequently prescribed drugs under section sixty-eight hundred\ntwenty-six of the education law. The prescription drug retail price list\ndatabase shall be subject to and conform with applicable state and\nfederal requirements, including those concerning privacy,\nconfidentiality and use of information. The commissioner shall seek a\nwaiver of any federal requirement necessary for development and\nimplementation of the database under this section. Upon implementation\nof this system, this section shall apply in place of any inconsistent\nprovision of section sixty-eight hundred twenty-six of the education\nlaw. The prescription drug retail price list database on the\ndepartment's website shall list a pharmacy's price information extracted\nunder this subdivision as the pharmacy's retail price for each drug. The\ndepartment shall update the prescription drug retail price list at least\nweekly using the most recent retail price for each drug for each\npharmacy as reasonably practicable.\n 2-a. Pharmacies which do not provide usual and customary price data in\nthe manner specified in subdivision two of this section shall transmit\nthe drug retail price list compiled pursuant to section sixty-eight\nhundred twenty-six of the education law to the department in a manner\nand frequency prescribed by the department and the department shall\nextract the usual and customary price data information from such drug\nretail price list; provided that the commissioner may exempt any\ncategory of pharmacy not required to compile such list pursuant to\nsection sixty-eight hundred twenty-six of the education law.\n 3. The prescription drug retail price list database on the\ndepartment's website shall contain an advisory statement by the\ndepartment alerting consumers of the need to tell their health care\npractitioner and pharmacist about all the medications they may be taking\nand to ask them how to avoid harmful interactions between the drugs, if\nany. A pharmacy may submit to the department a brief statement,\nacceptable to the department, to be included on the website in\nconjunction with the pharmacy's prescription drug retail price\ninformation: (a) concerning discounts from its listed retail prices that\nmay be available to consumers and (b) any limitations that the pharmacy\nmay have as to what group or groups of customers it serves.\n 4. In developing and implementing the prescription drug retail price\nlist database system, the department may seek and shall receive the\nassistance of the departments of education and law.\n 5. The commissioner shall provide an interim progress report\nconcerning efforts to develop and implement the database system under\nthis section not later than January thirty-first, two thousand six. The\nreport shall include a projected completion date, a description of\nobstacles to development and implementation of the database system, and\nan estimate of the costs to complete the implementation of the database\nsystem.\n 6. As used in this section, "pharmacy" means any place in which drugs\nor prescriptions are possessed for the purpose of retailing, or in which\ndrugs or prescriptions are retailed, or in which drugs or prescriptions\nare by advertising or otherwise offered for sale at retail.\n