News and notes from around the interweb:

• An attorney shares the warning signs of ‘self-serving’ PBMs. PBMs are designed to manage prescription drug benefits on the behalf of health insurers, saving both insurers and consumers money on prescription drugs. However, as the pharmaceutical industry has ballooned and drug prices have increased 33% since 2014, questions have been raised over whether PBMs are acting in the interest of their clients.

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  White Bagging Update: PBMs’ Specialty Pharmacies Keep Gaining on Buy-and-Bill Oncology Channels. White bagging can boost profits and revenues for PBM-owned specialty pharmacies while increasing payers’ control over hard-to-manage medical benefit drugs. Hospitals, however, lose profits and face higher costs.

• How PBM “rebate walls” impact drug spending, patient care and competition. Federal agencies and plan sponsors—the clients of PBMs—are beginning to explore perverse PBM incentives and are waking up to abusive PBM practices.

• Walmart Increases Self-Funded Employer Access to Cost-Effective Care. Self-funded employer health plans will have access to Walmart’s collection of healthcare services following a partnership between the retail giant and a digital healthcare platform.

• Average Specialty Drug Price Reached $84,442 in 2020, Rising More Than Three Times Faster Than the Prices of Other Goods and Services. Retail prices for 180 widely used specialty prescription drugs increased by an average of 4.8% in 2020, more than three times the rate of general inflation for that same period (1.3%), according to AARP’s latest Rx Price Watch Report. This category generally includes drugs that are used to treat complex, chronic conditions and require special administration or handling.