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2013 SESSION

13104516D
SENATE BILL NO. 945
AMENDMENT IN THE NATURE OF A SUBSTITUTE
(Proposed by the Senate Committee on Commerce and Labor
on January 28, 2013)
(Patron Prior to Substitute--Senator Puller and Puller [SB 947])
A BILL to require the Virginia Department of Health to form a work group to develop recommendations regarding patient assistance programs for specialty drug needs.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. § 1. That the Virginia Department of Health shall convene a work group consisting of representatives of interested entities and such other persons as the Department deems appropriate. The work group shall develop, and provide to the Department, recommendations regarding (i) the availability and establishment of patient assistance programs for specialty drug needs in the Commonwealth; (ii) current resources available, from both general fund and nongeneral fund sources, for such patient assistance programs and the level of resources needed to maximize existing programs; (iii) the implications of limiting the authority of health insurers to move a drug to a higher cost-sharing tier or otherwise modify prescription drug coverage without notifying the insureds and requiring that modifications be effective on a uniform basis; and (iv) opportunities to expand relationships between the Commonwealth and its pharmaceutical, insurance, pharmacy benefit manager, specialty pharmacy, and patient advocacy partners in order to develop a robust specialty-tier safety net.