Pennsylvania Attorney General Corbett Announces Multi-State Settlement With Express Sc...( HARRISBURG Pa. May 27 -- One of ...),Health

HARRISBURG, Pa., May 27 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- One of the nation's largest pharmacy benefits management companies (PBMs) has reached a settlement with Pennsylvania and 28 other states resolving claims of deceptive business practices.

Attorney General Tom Corbett said the agreement was reached with Express Scripts Inc., a pharmacy benefits management company with more than 50 million customers nationwide.

As part of the settlement, Express Scripts is required to change its business practices and pay $9.3 million to the states and up to $200,000 in reimbursement to patients who incurred expenses related to certain switches between cholesterol-controlling drugs.

Corbett said that Pennsylvania will receive a total of $658,000 from the settlement, with at least $374,000 being used to benefit low-income, disabled or elderly consumers of prescription medications, to promote lower drug costs for state residents, to educate consumers concerning the cost of differences among medications and for other similar purposes.

Express Scripts has also agreed to make a series of disclosures to consumers, doctors and employers about the company's business practices.

The states allege that Express Scripts engaged in deceptive business practices by not always acting in a manner consistent with its representations to consumers and employers about its pharmacy benefit management services. In particular, Express Scripts may have overstated the cost benefits of switching to certain preferred medications.

"Today's settlement puts an end to Express Scripts' misleading business practices and takes the necessary steps to protect health plans and patients," Corbett said.

The settlement generally prohibits Express Scripts from soliciting drug switches when:

-- the net drug cost of the proposed drug exceeds the net drug cost of the

originally prescribed drug;

-- the originally prescribed drug has a generic eq
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