ATLANTA – A former president of the Georgia Pharmacy Association has been fired by a prominent health-care services company after criticizing Gov. Brian Kemp’s veto of legislation supporters said would help independent pharmacies out of a competitive disadvantage with pharmacy chains.
Joe Ed Holt of Valdosta, a clinical consultant pharmacist with PruittHealth, warned in a posting on his Facebook page in early May that the veto of Senate Bill 198 – which had cleared the General Assembly with only “one” no vote – could put some independent pharmacies out of business.
Holt told Capitol Beat the company contacted him within hours and asked him to take down the post because it jeopardized their relationship with the governor. He said he did so immediately but was fired the following day with no notice and no severance pay despite 17 years with the company.
“I was shocked,” Holt said. “It was my personal Facebook page. I didn’t mention anything about PruittHealth.”
Neil Pruitt Jr., the company’s chairman and CEO, and a longtime member of the University System of Georgia Board of Regents, did not return a phone call seeking comment.
The bill would have required the State Health Benefit Plan (SHBP), which covers Georgia teachers and state employees, to reimburse independent pharmacies filling prescriptions at rates no less than the average reimbursement provided to chain pharmacies.
Holt said the current reimbursement model isn’t working for independent pharmacies.
“Out of every 10 prescriptions filled, they probably lose money on five,” he said. “It’s a battle to stay open.”
The impact pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), which run large health plans around the country like the SHBP, have on prescription drug prices has caught the attention of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The agency released a report this week showing increasing consolidation in the industry is allowing PBMs to amass big profits by inflating drug costs.
U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter, R-St Simons, a pharmacist by trade, welcomed the report.
“Since day one in Congress, I’ve been calling on the FTC to investigate PBMs, which use deceptive and anti-competitive practices to line their own pockets while reducing patients’ access to affordable, quality health care,” Carter said.
“We are losing more than one pharmacy per day in this country, causing pharmacy deserts and taking the most accessible health-care professionals in America out of people’s communities.”
In his veto message, Kemp cited fiscal estimates showing that implementing Senate Bill 198 would cost the Georgia Department of Community Health (DCH) $11 million to $45 million per year, funds the General Assembly did not allocate.
Instead, the governor pointed to one-time funding in the fiscal 2025 state budget that took effect this month to provide independent pharmacists a dispensing fee of $3 per prescription. The budget also instructs the DCH to put existing funds toward an actuarial study of prescription reimbursements independent pharmacies receive from the SHBP.
“These budget items provide an appropriate, fiscally sound approach to supporting independent pharmacists this year while obtaining necessary information to aid the department in evaluating
current and future management of the state’s pharmacy plan and the General Assembly in examining PBM practices in future legislative sessions,” Kemp wrote.
Holt cited a study conducted several years ago that found pharmacies need to make at least $10.63 on every prescription they fill to cover overhead.
“Three dollars is a good effort, but it’s not nearly enough,” he said.
Holt said the pharmacy association will work to reintroduce the bill and convince Kemp to support it during next year’s legislative session.
“We’re going to keep pushing this,” he said. “That bill would have done a lot to level the playing field.”
This story available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat, an initiative of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
