Colorado Code § 10-16-122.3

Pharmacy benefit management firm payments - retroactive reduction prohibited - enforcement - rules - definitions
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(1) (a) A pharmacy benefit management firm
shall not reimburse a pharmacy in an amount less than the amount that the pharmacy benefit
management firm reimburses any affiliate for the same pharmacy services.
(b) This subsection (1) does not prohibit a pharmacy benefit management firm from
reimbursing an affiliate for satisfying the terms of a performance-based contract.
(2) (a) A contract or agreement, including a performance-based or value-based contract
or agreement, between a pharmacy benefit management firm and a pharmacy or a pharmacy
services administrative organization with respect to prescription drug benefits administered or
managed by the pharmacy benefit management firm must provide that after the date the
pharmacy benefit management firm receives a clean claim submitted by a pharmacy, the
pharmacy benefit management firm shall not retroactively reduce payment on the claim after the
point of sale except as the result of an audit conducted in accordance with section 10-16-122.5.
(b) Nothing in this subsection (2) prohibits a pharmacy benefit management firm from
retroactively increasing a payment to a pharmacy pursuant to a written agreement between the
pharmacy benefit management firm and the pharmacy or making adjustments to claims in the
case of a clerical error.
(3) Each carrier that contracts with a pharmacy benefit management firm to manage or
administer prescription drug benefits on the carrier's behalf shall include in a new, amended, or
renewed contract with the pharmacy benefit management firm a requirement that the pharmacy
benefit management firm comply with this section. The carrier shall annually audit the pharmacy
benefit management firm to monitor and ensure compliance with this section.
(4) The division may promulgate rules to implement and enforce this section, including
rules to establish the manner in which carriers and pharmacy benefit management firms are
required to show compliance with this section.
(5) This section applies to contracts and agreements between pharmacy benefit
management firms and pharmacies or pharmacy services administrative organizations in effect
on or after January 1, 2021.
(5.5) With regard to the requirements of this section applicable to pharmacy benefit
management firms, the commissioner has the authority to enforce this section and to impose a
penalty or other remedy against a pharmacy benefit management firm that fails to comply with
this section.
(6) As used in this section:
(a) "Affiliate" means a pharmacy that directly or indirectly, through one or more
intermediaries, owns or controls, is owned or controlled by, or is under common ownership or
control with a pharmacy benefit management firm.
(b) "Clean claim" means a claim that has no defect or impropriety, including any lack of
required substantiating documentation, or particular circumstance requiring special treatment
that prevents timely payment from being made on the claim. "Clean claim" does not include a
claim based on fraud, waste, or abuse.
(c) "Pharmacy" means an in-state or nonresident prescription drug outlet, as defined in
section 12-280-103 (43); an other outlet, as defined in section 12-280-103 (32); a hospital
satellite pharmacy, as defined in section 12-280-103 (20); or other setting, including a
practitioner's office or clinic, where a practitioner, as defined in section 12-280-103 (40),
dispenses prescription drugs to patients as authorized by section 12-280-120 (6).

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