"If one PBM won't give it to them, they'll get it from another PBM"

Some drug industry officials have tried to shift blame for rising retail drug prices to pharmacy benefit managers, who are hired by insurers, employers, unions and governments to negotiate prices and establish formularies. Consolidation among PBMs left just a handful of powerful players, and even the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission has lamented there is "a real complexity in how PBMs operate and where they get their revenues." Modern Healthcare Midwest Bureau Chief Bob Herman recently interviewed Mark Merritt, CEO of the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association, the PBM industry trade group, to get his take on the issues. The following is an edited excerpt.