---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT relating to pharmacy benefits in the Medicaid program. Create a new section of KRS Chapter 205 to require the Department for Medicaid Services to directly administer all outpatient pharmacy benefits; prohibit renewal or negotiation of new contracts to provide Medicaid managed care that allow administration of outpatient benefits by any entity but the Department for Medicaid Services; reduce costs of future Medicaid managed care contracts by costs of all outpatient pharmacy benefits as they existed on January 1, 2017; allow the department to utilize managed care principles and techniques to assist with member medication adherence and cost control; require the department to establish a reasonable dispensing fee pursuant to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services guidelines; EFFECTIVE January 1, 2019."
description: "AN ACT relating to pharmacy benefits in the Medicaid program. Create a new section of KRS Chapter 205 to require the Department for Medicaid Services to directly administer all outpatient pharmacy benefits; prohibit renewal or negotiation of new contracts to provide Medicaid managed care that allow administration of outpatient benefits by any entity but the Department for Medicaid Services; reduce costs of future Medicaid managed care contracts by costs of all outpatient pharmacy benefits as they existed on January 1, 2017; allow the department to utilize managed care principles and techniques to assist with member medication adherence and cost control; require the department to establish a reasonable dispensing fee pursuant to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services guidelines; EFFECTIVE January 1, 2019."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ky"
legislature: "Kentucky General Assembly"
session: "2018RS"
identifier: "SB 5"
citation: "Kentucky SB 5 (2018RS)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["C. Embry Jr.", "D. Carroll", "J. Bowen", "J. Carpenter", "M. Wilson", "M. Wise", "P. Hornback", "R. Alvarado", "R. Girdler", "R. Thomas", "S. Meredith", "S. West"]
version_count: 9
action_count: 29
vote_count: 0
first_action: "2017-09-25"
last_action: "2018-04-13"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/f750213d-9048-4dca-9778-9d68be820e24"
source_url: "http://www.lrc.ky.gov/record/18RS/SB5.htm"
source_hash: "137f0dc70aada81139b527d2d9af56e7bbad463ce7a1a76d82f7f7f5f4ac77fa"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ky"]
---

# Kentucky SB 5 (2018RS) — AN ACT relating to pharmacy benefits in the Medicaid program. Create a new section of KRS Chapter 205 to require the Department for Medicaid Services to directly administer all outpatient pharmacy benefits; prohibit renewal or negotiation of new contracts to provide Medicaid managed care that allow administration of outpatient benefits by any entity but the Department for Medicaid Services; reduce costs of future Medicaid managed care contracts by costs of all outpatient pharmacy benefits as they existed on January 1, 2017; allow the department to utilize managed care principles and techniques to assist with member medication adherence and cost control; require the department to establish a reasonable dispensing fee pursuant to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services guidelines; EFFECTIVE January 1, 2019.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **HCA1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.lrc.ky.gov/recorddocuments/bill/18RS/SB5/HCA1.pdf)
2. **HCA2** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.lrc.ky.gov/recorddocuments/bill/18RS/SB5/HCA2.pdf)
3. **HCS1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.lrc.ky.gov/recorddocuments/bill/18RS/SB5/HCS1.pdf)
4. **HFA1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.lrc.ky.gov/recorddocuments/bill/18RS/SB5/HFA1.pdf)
5. **HFA2** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.lrc.ky.gov/recorddocuments/bill/18RS/SB5/HFA2.pdf)
6. **Most Recent Version** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.lrc.ky.gov/recorddocuments/bill/18RS/SB5/bill.pdf)
7. **SB 5 (As Introduced)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.lrc.ky.gov/recorddocuments/bill/18RS/SB5/orig_bill.pdf)
8. **SCS1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.lrc.ky.gov/recorddocuments/bill/18RS/SB5/SCS1.pdf)
9. **SFA1** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.lrc.ky.gov/recorddocuments/bill/18RS/SB5/SFA1.pdf)

## Sponsors

- C. Embry Jr. — primary (person)
- D. Carroll — primary (person)
- J. Bowen — primary (person)
- J. Carpenter — primary (person)
- M. Wilson — primary (person)
- M. Wise — primary (person)
- P. Hornback — primary (person)
- R. Alvarado — primary (person)
- R. Girdler — primary (person)
- R. Thomas — primary (person)
- S. Meredith — primary (person)
- S. West — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2017-09-25** Prefiled by the sponsor(s).
- **2018-01-02** Introduced in Senate `introduction`
- **2018-01-03** To Health & Welfare (S) `referral-committee`
- **2018-02-14** Reported favorably, 1st reading, to Calendar with Committee Substitute (1) `reading-1`
- **2018-02-15** 2nd reading, to Rules `reading-2`
- **2018-02-16** Floor amendment (1) filed to Committee Substitute `amendment-introduction`
- **2018-02-28** Posted for passage in the Regular Orders of the Day for Thursday, March 1, 2018
- **2018-03-01** 3rd reading, passed 32-4 with Committee Substitute (1) floor amendment (1) `reading-3, passage`
- **2018-03-02** Received in House
- **2018-03-06** To Banking & Insurance (H) `referral-committee`
- **2018-03-13** Posted in committee
- **2018-03-15** Taken from Banking & Insurance (H)
- **2018-03-15** 1st reading `reading-1`
- **2018-03-15** Returned to Banking & Insurance (H)
- **2018-03-16** Reported favorably, 2nd reading, to Rules with Committee Substitute and committee amendments (1) and (2-title) `reading-2`
- **2018-03-16** Floor amendment (1) filed to Committee Substitute `amendment-introduction`
- **2018-03-19** Posted for passage in the Regular Orders of the Day for Tuesday, March 20, 2018
- **2018-03-20** Floor amendment (2) filed to Committee Substitute `amendment-introduction`
- **2018-03-20** 3rd reading, passed 97-0 with Committee Substitute, committee amendment (2-title), and floor amendment (2) `reading-3, passage`
- **2018-03-21** Received in Senate
- **2018-03-22** Posted for passage for concurrence in House Committee Substitute, committee amendments (2-title) & floor amendment (2)
- **2018-03-27** Passed over and retained in the Concurrence Orders of the Day
- **2018-03-29** Passed over and retained in the Concurrence Orders of the Day
- **2018-04-02** Senate concurred in House Committee Substitute (1), committee amendment (2-title) and floor amendment (2)
- **2018-04-02** Bill passed 37-0
- **2018-04-02** Enrolled, signed by President of the Senate
- **2018-04-02** Enrolled, signed by Speaker of the House
- **2018-04-02** Delivered to Governor
- **2018-04-13** Signed by Governor (Acts, ch. 157) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/f750213d-9048-4dca-9778-9d68be820e24`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Kentucky legislature records).