Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) serve as intermediaries between health plans, pharmacies and pharmaceutical manufacturers, and are responsible for administering prescription drug benefits on behalf of health plans. Their central role in the complex prescription drug market makes it difficult to understand the total cost of prescription drugs along the pharmaceutical supply chain.
The 2025 State Budget Health Omnibus Bill (Assembly Bill 116) adds to the data and information available to policymakers, researchers, and the public about the prescription drug marketplace in California, requiring the California Department of Health Care Access and Information (HCAI) to collect cost data from PBMs.
This data collection builds on information HCAI collects from prescription drug manufacturers through the Prescription Drug Cost Transparency Program, pursuant to Senate Bill 17, and pharmacy claims the Healthcare Payments Data (HPD) Program has been collecting from health plans since 2022. HCAI is also in the process of collecting pharmacy rebate data from health plans with HPD as part of the Non–Claims Payment Data Collection effort.
For more information, read the Fact Sheet for Pharmacy Benefit Manager Data Submission.