Pharmacy Benefit Manager Faxes to Chiropractors Did Not Violate TCPA

摘要

In Sandusky Wellness Center, LLC v. Medco Health Solutions, Inc. [No. 14-4201 (6th Cir. 6/3/2015)], a pharmacy benefit manager sent two faxes to a chiropractic company, listing medications available in the health plans of the chiropractors' patients. The question in this case was whether those faxes were "unsolicited advertisements" prohibited by the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) at 47 U. S. C. § 227(b)(1)(C). As a pharmacy benefit manager, Medco Health Solutions acted as an intermediary between health plan sponsors (often employers) and prescription drug companies. Medco provided services to plan sponsors that enabled the plans to offer more informed and less expensive prescription drug benefits to their members (often employees). Those services included keeping and updating a list of medicines (known as the formulary) that were available through a health care plan. Medco sent that list to the plan sponsors so they could offer the most attractive prescription drug plans to their members.