Sec. 1369.254. AUDIT OF PHARMACIST OR PHARMACY; NOTICE; GENERAL PROVISIONS. (a) Except as provided by Subsection (d), a health benefit plan issuer or pharmacy benefit manager that performs an on-site audit under this subchapter of a pharmacist or pharmacy shall provide the pharmacist or pharmacy reasonable notice of the audit and accommodate the pharmacist's or pharmacy's schedule to the greatest extent possible. The notice required under this subsection must be in writing and must be sent by a means that allows tracking of delivery to the pharmacist or pharmacy not later than the 14th day before the date on which the on-site audit is scheduled to occur.

(b) Not later than the seventh day after the date a pharmacist or pharmacy receives notice under Subsection (a), the pharmacist or pharmacy may request that an on-site audit be rescheduled to a mutually convenient date. The request must be reasonably granted.

(c) Unless the pharmacist or pharmacy consents in writing, a health benefit plan issuer or pharmacy benefit manager may not schedule or have an on-site audit conducted:

(1) except as provided by Subsection (d), before the 14th day after the date the pharmacist or pharmacy receives notice under Subsection (a), if applicable;

(2) more than twice annually in connection with a particular payor; or

(3) during the first five calendar days of January and December.

(d) A health benefit plan issuer or pharmacy benefit manager is not required to provide notice before conducting an audit if, after reviewing claims data, written or oral statements of pharmacy staff, wholesalers, or others, or other investigative information, including patient referrals, anonymous reports, or postings on Internet websites, the plan issuer or pharmacy benefit manager suspects the pharmacist or pharmacy subject to the audit committed fraud or made an intentional misrepresentation related to the pharmacy business. The pharmacist or pharmacy may not request that the audit be rescheduled under Subsection (b).

(e) A pharmacist or pharmacy may be required to submit documents in response to a desk audit not earlier than the 20th day after the date the health benefit plan issuer or pharmacy benefit manager requests the documents.

(f) A contract between a pharmacist or pharmacy and a health benefit plan issuer or pharmacy benefit manager must state detailed audit procedures. If a health benefit plan issuer or pharmacy benefit manager proposes a change to the audit procedures for an on-site audit or a desk audit, the plan issuer or pharmacy benefit manager must notify the pharmacist or pharmacy in writing of a change in an audit procedure not later than the 60th day before the effective date of the change.

(g) The list of the claims subject to an on-site audit must be provided in the notice under Subsection (a) to the pharmacist or pharmacy and must identify the claims only by the prescription numbers or a date range for prescriptions subject to the audit. The last two digits of the prescription numbers provided may be omitted.

(h) If the health benefit plan issuer or pharmacy benefit manager in an on-site audit or a desk audit applies random sampling procedures to select claims for audit, the sample size may not be greater than 300 individual prescription claims.

Added by Acts 2013, 83rd Leg., R.S., Ch. 915 (H.B. 1358), Sec. 1, eff. September 1, 2013.