State official says reverse-auction procurement for PBM showed no clear savings; bill would allow alternative processes

Galen Bench, Enterprise Director for Employee Insurance, told the committee the original law required the state to procure pharmacy benefit management services through a reverse-auction with prescriptive technical parameters. He said the industry and procurement experience have changed in five years and that the Office of Legislative Evaluation reviewed the state's evaluation and affirmed there was no evidence of savings attributable to the reverse auction. "There's too much at stake to limit competition for the state's business in such an important area," Bench said, and the bill would allow Minnesota to use other procurement approaches if the evidence does not support a reverse auction. The file was laid over for possible inclusion.