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Final ruleTakes effect Jan. 4, 2027

Improving Transparency Into Pharmacy Benefit Manager Fee Disclosure

Built by the Tribune's code from the Federal Register. No AI wrote this page. Published in the Federal Register Nov. 2, 2026. Document 2026-22306. Updated Nov. 5, 2026.

Read our story about this rule

What it does

The Department is issuing a final regulation that will require providers of pharmacy benefit management services and affiliated providers of brokerage and consulting services to disclose information about their compensation to fiduciaries of large, self-insured group health plans subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). Pharmacy spending is a major driver of overall healthcare costs for employers and is growing faster than medical and surgical spending. These disclosure requirements apply for purposes of ERISA's statutory prohibited transaction exemption for service arrangements under section 408(b)(2). These disclosures are needed so that fiduciaries can assess the reasonableness of contracts or arrangements with these service providers, including the reasonableness of the service providers' compensation. As directed in section 12 of President Trump's Executive Order 14273, Lowering Drug Prices by Once Again Putting Americans First, the Department is issuing this rule to improve employer health plan transparency into the direct and indirect compensation received by pharmacy benefit managers. This final rule will affect sponsors and other fiduciaries of large, self-insured group health plans and certain service providers to such plans.

The Employee Benefits Security Administration's summary, as published in the Federal Register.

What changed in the regulation

1 part of Title 29 of the Code of Federal Regulations:

29 CFR 2550

Compared with

The Employee Benefits Security Administration has published 1 final rule in 2026 so far, compared with 4 in all of 2025.

Counted by the Tribune from Federal Register records since Jan. 1, 2025.

What happens next and when

This regulation is effective January 4, 2027. This regulation is applicable to plan years beginning on or after July 1, 2027.

The agency's dates, word for word.

Document number2026-22306
ActionFinal rule.
AgenciesLabor Department; Employee Benefits Security Administration
PublishedNov. 2, 2026
Effective dateJan. 4, 2027
Regulation identifier (RIN)1210-AB37
DocketEBSA-2026-0001
Significant (marked in the Federal Register)Yes

Source: the Federal Register (public domain). The document in the Federal Register