§ 278. Prescription drug retail price lists. 1. The department shall
make prescription drug retail price lists of pharmacies, with the name
and address of each pharmacy, available to the public in a database on
its website at all times. The website shall enable consumers to search
the database for drug retail prices of pharmacies selected by zip code
of the pharmacy and other appropriate factors, including enabling
consumers to display and compare prices for one or more selected drugs
as well as for the full list. The website shall enable consumers to
download and print displayed information. The website shall accommodate
reasonably anticipated and actual public use of the database. The
database shall display drug retail prices for the compendium of the one
hundred fifty most frequently prescribed drugs received by the
department from the department of education under section sixty-eight
hundred twenty-six of the education law.

2. The department shall extract pharmacy retail price information,
showing the actual price to be paid to the pharmacy by a retail
purchaser for any listed drug at the listed dosage, from usual and
customary price data collected by the medical assistance program under
title eleven of article five of the social services law. Provided,
however, that any pharmacy participating in the medical assistance
program shall provide the usual and customary price data for the one
hundred fifty most frequently prescribed drugs under section sixty-eight
hundred twenty-six of the education law to the department through the
same mechanism that the usual and customary price data is received under
the medical assistance program. If the department is unable to process
such data, the pharmacy shall fax or electronically transmit to the
department the usual and customary price data for the one hundred fifty
most frequently prescribed drugs under section sixty-eight hundred
twenty-six of the education law. The prescription drug retail price list
database shall be subject to and conform with applicable state and
federal requirements, including those concerning privacy,
confidentiality and use of information. The commissioner shall seek a
waiver of any federal requirement necessary for development and
implementation of the database under this section. Upon implementation
of this system, this section shall apply in place of any inconsistent
provision of section sixty-eight hundred twenty-six of the education
law. The prescription drug retail price list database on the
department's website shall list a pharmacy's price information extracted
under this subdivision as the pharmacy's retail price for each drug. The
department shall update the prescription drug retail price list at least
weekly using the most recent retail price for each drug for each
pharmacy as reasonably practicable.

2-a. Pharmacies which do not provide usual and customary price data in
the manner specified in subdivision two of this section shall transmit
the drug retail price list compiled pursuant to section sixty-eight
hundred twenty-six of the education law to the department in a manner
and frequency prescribed by the department and the department shall
extract the usual and customary price data information from such drug
retail price list; provided that the commissioner may exempt any
category of pharmacy not required to compile such list pursuant to
section sixty-eight hundred twenty-six of the education law.

3. The prescription drug retail price list database on the
department's website shall contain an advisory statement by the
department alerting consumers of the need to tell their health care
practitioner and pharmacist about all the medications they may be taking
and to ask them how to avoid harmful interactions between the drugs, if
any. A pharmacy may submit to the department a brief statement,
acceptable to the department, to be included on the website in
conjunction with the pharmacy's prescription drug retail price
information: (a) concerning discounts from its listed retail prices that
may be available to consumers and (b) any limitations that the pharmacy
may have as to what group or groups of customers it serves.

4. In developing and implementing the prescription drug retail price
list database system, the department may seek and shall receive the
assistance of the departments of education and law.

5. The commissioner shall provide an interim progress report
concerning efforts to develop and implement the database system under
this section not later than January thirty-first, two thousand six. The
report shall include a projected completion date, a description of
obstacles to development and implementation of the database system, and
an estimate of the costs to complete the implementation of the database
system.

6. As used in this section, "pharmacy" means any place in which drugs
or prescriptions are possessed for the purpose of retailing, or in which
drugs or prescriptions are retailed, or in which drugs or prescriptions
are by advertising or otherwise offered for sale at retail.