by Lindy Z. Kerr, Esq.

Florida’s legislative session ended on Friday without any action on either of two bills that, if passed, would have helped offset skyrocketing prescription drug costs. One bill would have capped workers’ compensation drug pricing to the medication’s average wholesale price as set by the original manufacturer, plus a $4.18 dispensing fee. The other proposed bill was based around a penalty. Providers would have been required to issue a $15 credit to insurers for each repackaged or relabeled prescription drug that cost more than $25.

Both bills were designed to tackle the all too common practice of physicians dispensing repackaged drugs at a high mark-up. This issue is not unique to Florida. In Georgia and elsewhere, many physicians now prescribe and dispense medications in-house as a way to raise revenue. Had the bill passed, Florida would have provided a case study on whether legislation geared toward lowing workers’ compensation drug costs would be effective once passed.

There were no similar bills proposed in Georgia this year.