Sen. Jonathan Dismang, R-Searcy, presents an amended bill to allow nonprofit hospitals to hold retail pharmacy permits to the Senate Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee on Wednesday, January 29, 2025. (Tess Vrbin/Arkansas Advocate)
An amended bill to allow nonprofit hospitals in Arkansas to hold a retail pharmacy permit passed a legislative committee Wednesday after the original version narrowly failed a week earlier.
Sen. Jonathan Dismang, R-Searcy, initially said he would not amend Senate Bill 58 because he believed it would sufficiently improve patients’ access to prescription medications. Nonprofit hospital administrators spoke in favor of the bill last week before the Senate Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee.
On Wednesday, Dismang presented a revamped bill he said he believed would achieve the same goal while addressing concerns “in the spirit of compromise.” Committee members and representatives of independent pharmacies worried last week that these pharmacies would struggle financially due to competition from hospitals’ in-house pharmacies.
Arkansas is the only state in which the law currently prohibits nonprofit, tax-exempt or governmentally-funded hospitals from holding or acquiring interest in retail pharmacy permits.
In addition to repealing the prohibition, the amended Senate Bill 58 would allow the state Board of Pharmacy to issue permits for retail pharmacies within 250 yards of a nonprofit hospital’s physical location in Arkansas, plus one additional pharmacy permit per 100 beds in the hospital.
“It’s not like they’re going to be able to go out and build off-site and start directly competing with pharmacies that are currently in business,” Dismang said.
The amended bill would not place a limit on the number of retail pharmacies that nonprofit hospitals could operate in conjunction with infusion centers, and it would allow these hospitals to direct their pharmacies’ services to underserved areas. Dismang said these provisions satisfied some opponents of the original version of the bill.
Medicaid patients who are eligible for discounted prescription drugs under the federal 340B drug pricing program would have the ability to choose which pharmacy to use under the proposed policy.
The Arkansas State Board of Pharmacy would be required to submit monthly reports to lawmakers detailing how many pharmacy applications it receives and approves, including for hospital pharmacies, as well as how many retail pharmacies in the state have closed.
The amended bill passed on a voice vote with no dissent.
Sen. John Payton, R-Wilburn, voted against SB 58 last week and said the bill did not provide adequate “assurances” that patients will have better access to medication. He said Wednesday that he still had those concerns, but the changes to the bill were enough to convince him to vote for it.
John Vinson, CEO of the Arkansas Pharmacists Association, was among last week’s opponents of the bill and said Wednesday that he appreciated the changes.
Dismang said the amended bill is “a great step in the right direction.” The full Senate will be next to consider it.
Republican Sen. Justin Boyd, a pharmacist from Fort Smith, is sponsoring a separate bill that would allow hospitals to hold one retail pharmacy permit per location as long as it meets certain criteria, including the ability to dispense “emergency medications” on a 24/7 basis. The Senate Public Health Committee has deferred the bill.
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