On May 22, the Ohio Academy of Family Physicians sent letters to all 33 members of the Ohio Senate relative to concerns with House Bill 101 and the fact that the bill may be a solution in search of a problem.
“On behalf of the 4,900 family physician, family medicine resident and medical student members of the Ohio Academy of Family Physicians, I am writing to express our reservations about House Bill (HB) 101, a proposal with the stated purpose of making epinephrine auto-injectors more affordable and accessible.
“We understand and share frustration with the price of brand-name epinephrine auto-injectors and agree that generic options are necessary and important. We do feel that the bill sponsor has confused the pricing issue with that of patient access. We honestly don’t see patient access to epinephrine as a problem; the problem that needs to be addressed is the price that the pharmaceutical manufacturers are charging for their product. In fact, one provision in the bill, which allows the patient to request the type of epinephrine auto-injector they want from the pharmacist, will likely increase the price to the patient and the profit to the pharmacy as the most widely-recognized product, EpiPen, will most likely be requested and is the most expensive option. This situation is somewhat like how the brand Kleenex has become synonymous with tissue and is tissue is often referred to by the name-brand Kleenex.
“The OAFP opposed the portion of HB 101, as introduced, that made epinephrine available at the pharmacy without a prescription. The Academy didn’t think making epinephrine available without a prescription to be appropriate from a patient safety standpoint. We understand that the Ohio State Medical Association was instrumental in working with the House Health Committee in adding two amendments – one that would require the initial prescription for epinephrine to come from a physician and the other to require the pharmacist who dispenses epinephrine without a prescription to notify the primary care physician. While these amendments improve the bill, it still seems as though the legislature is looking for a solution to an access problem that doesn’t exist. The problem that needs addressed is the price of epinephrine auto-injectors.
On behalf of the OAFP, we would ask that the Senate carefully consider the need for addressing epinephrine access and consider focusing on the real problem of epinephrine price. Please don’t pass legislation to solve a problem that doesn’t exist.”
HB 101 passed the Ohio House of Representatives on May 10 and is pending in the Senate Health, Human Services, and Medicaid Committee.