News Briefs
✦ The bipartisan infrastructure package that U.S. senators are currently negotiating will further delay a never-implemented regulation that would restructure the Medicare Part D drug rebate system, various news outlets reported. The Biden administration had already delayed the so-called rebate rule until 2023, a move hailed by PBMs and health insurers but criticized by the pharmaceutical industry. Because the CMS Office of the Actuary had predicted that banning PBMs and plan sponsors from pocketing rebates would cause Part D premiums to rise, delaying the rule allows the government to generate budgetary savings.
✦ Humana Inc. and Anthem, Inc. unveiled a new PBM joint venture with SS&C Technologies dubbed DomaniRx, according to a document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The SEC filling states that SS&C holds an 80.2% interest in the joint venture and Humana and Anthem each hold a minority interest. Assets invested in the PBM add up to “an aggregate of approximately $925,000,000,” per the filing. A press release from SS&C pitched the new PBM as more transparent and technically advanced than the competition. “DomaniRx will focus on disrupting the industry through open source technology to interface with other systems quickly,” said Danny Delmastro, DomaniRx’s general manager, adding the firm “will draw from hundreds of millions of claims transactions, powered by DomaniRx’s advanced processing platform.” Anthem launched its own in-house PBM, IngenioRx, in 2019.