AN ACT RELATING TO COMMERCIAL LAW -- GENERAL REGULATORY PROVISIONS -- DECEPTIVE TRADE PRACTICES

This bill prohibits pharmacy benefits managers from engaging in specific deceptive trade practices, such as hidden payment reductions, steering patients toward affiliated pharmacies, or using patient data to gain economic control over pharmacies. It directly affects pharmacy benefits managers, pharmacists, pharmacies, and healthcare enrollees by defining and banning actions like spread pricing, unfair inducements, and restrictive refill policies for maintenance medications. The legislation also forbids PBMs from exploiting prescription data for marketing or repackaging drugs to extract price markups without informing patients. Violations of these rules are classified as unfair competition, and each individual transaction involving a prohibited act is considered a separate offense.