N.Y. Public Health Law § 278: Prescription drug retail price lists

§ 278. Prescription drug retail price lists. 1. The department shall

make prescription drug retail price lists of pharmacies, with the name

and address of each pharmacy, available to the public in a database on

its website at all times. The website shall enable consumers to search

the database for drug retail prices of pharmacies selected by zip code

of the pharmacy and other appropriate factors, including enabling

consumers to display and compare prices for one or more selected drugs

as well as for the full list. The website shall enable consumers to

download and print displayed information. The website shall accommodate

reasonably anticipated and actual public use of the database. The

database shall display drug retail prices for the compendium of the one

hundred fifty most frequently prescribed drugs received by the

department from the department of education under section sixty-eight

hundred twenty-six of the education law.

2. The department shall extract pharmacy retail price information,

showing the actual price to be paid to the pharmacy by a retail

purchaser for any listed drug at the listed dosage, from usual and

customary price data collected by the medical assistance program under

title eleven of article five of the social services law. Provided,

however, that any pharmacy participating in the medical assistance

program shall provide the usual and customary price data for the one

hundred fifty most frequently prescribed drugs under section sixty-eight

hundred twenty-six of the education law to the department through the

same mechanism that the usual and customary price data is received under

the medical assistance program. If the department is unable to process

such data, the pharmacy shall fax or electronically transmit to the

department the usual and customary price data for the one hundred fifty

most frequently prescribed drugs under section sixty-eight hundred

twenty-six of the education law. The prescription drug retail price list

database shall be subject to and conform with applicable state and

federal requirements, including those concerning privacy,

confidentiality and use of information. The commissioner shall seek a

waiver of any federal requirement necessary for development and

implementation of the database under this section. Upon implementation

of this system, this section shall apply in place of any inconsistent

provision of section sixty-eight hundred twenty-six of the education

law. The prescription drug retail price list database on the

department's website shall list a pharmacy's price information extracted

under this subdivision as the pharmacy's retail price for each drug. The

department shall update the prescription drug retail price list at least

weekly using the most recent retail price for each drug for each

pharmacy as reasonably practicable.

2-a. Pharmacies which do not provide usual and customary price data in

the manner specified in subdivision two of this section shall transmit

the drug retail price list compiled pursuant to section sixty-eight

hundred twenty-six of the education law to the department in a manner

and frequency prescribed by the department and the department shall

extract the usual and customary price data information from such drug

retail price list; provided that the commissioner may exempt any

category of pharmacy not required to compile such list pursuant to

section sixty-eight hundred twenty-six of the education law.

3. The prescription drug retail price list database on the

department's website shall contain an advisory statement by the

department alerting consumers of the need to tell their health care

practitioner and pharmacist about all the medications they may be taking

and to ask them how to avoid harmful interactions between the drugs, if

any. A pharmacy may submit to the department a brief statement,

acceptable to the department, to be included on the website in

conjunction with the pharmacy's prescription drug retail price

information: (a) concerning discounts from its listed retail prices that

may be available to consumers and (b) any limitations that the pharmacy

may have as to what group or groups of customers it serves.

4. In developing and implementing the prescription drug retail price

list database system, the department may seek and shall receive the

assistance of the departments of education and law.

5. The commissioner shall provide an interim progress report

concerning efforts to develop and implement the database system under

this section not later than January thirty-first, two thousand six. The

report shall include a projected completion date, a description of

obstacles to development and implementation of the database system, and

an estimate of the costs to complete the implementation of the database

system.

6. As used in this section, "pharmacy" means any place in which drugs

or prescriptions are possessed for the purpose of retailing, or in which

drugs or prescriptions are retailed, or in which drugs or prescriptions

are by advertising or otherwise offered for sale at retail.