Measuring victory can be a nebulous exercise, but independent pharmacy won a victory this week.

The Texas Teachers Retirement System's Benefits Committee hit the pause button on what previously was a continuous replay when awarding the TRS-Care PBM contract for retired teachers. They listened to testimony and when it came time to vote, two of the five members voted against the contract. When the full board met, one of the members held steady in his negative vote.

Individuals who testified, in addition to me, included:

Based on the questions asked, public scrutiny, and SB 704, we believe that when TRS sits down with CVS Caremark to hammer out the final contract, TRS will be extremely careful not to allow any favoritism toward CVS over any other network pharmacy.

The request for proposal TRS sent out is much improved over previous RFPs. It included the requirements of SB 704 to establish mail order parity in ERS and TRS PBM contracts (meaning a retail pharmacy can be reimbursed for 90-day prescriptions at the same rate that a PBM mail order pharmacy is reimbursed), creating a level playing field for all pharmacies and giving beneficiaries the choice of getting their meds locally or through the mail.

This RFP also gives TRS full rights to audit the PBM, including its mail order pharmacy.