The chief executive officer of a pharmacy buying cooperative in Bessemer says his company was trying to protect small, independent pharmacies when it tried to get language in the state general fund budget that would have allowed it to manage pharmacy benefits for the state Medicaid program.
Tim Hamrick says he was concerned that Alabama would bring in a big national company that would cut dispensing fees for pharmacies and drive many community-based pharmacies out of business.
Former Republican Rep. Greg Wren of Montgomery pleaded guilty in April to a misdemeanor ethics charge. He admitted trying to get the language into the state budget while being paid $8,000 a month as a consultant to an affiliated company, RxAlly.
Hamrick says APCI owned only 2 percent of RxAlly.