Pharmaceutical Access and Prudent Purchasing Act of 1990

Pharmaceutical Access and Prudent Purchasing Act of 1990 - Amends title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act to require States which provide Medicaid coverage of prescribed drugs to pay pharmacists the lesser of the actual charge for the drug or the 90th percentile of actual charges for the drug in the State.

Permits a State, either individually or in cooperation with other States, to establish a program for negotiating Medicaid prescription drug price reductions with drug manufacturers which may include the creation of a list of drugs preferred for their cost-effectiveness over other therapeutically equivalent drugs and sold at a reduced price as a result of such negotiations. Limits Medicaid coverage of prescribed drugs that have one or more therapeutic alternates to preferred drugs and non-preferred drugs which the prescriber determines to be medically necessary.

Directs States to establish a drug utilization review program addressing the safety and proper use of prescription drugs. Provides Federal funding for 75 percent of drug utilization review program costs from 1991 through 1993.

Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to develop and distribute: (1) a standard claim form and a standard electronic claim format to be used in requesting Medicaid payment for outpatient drugs; and (2) a standard reporting format for States to use in reporting expenditures, results of drug utilization review activities, and other information concerning activities under this Act deemed necessary by the Secretary. Provides Federal funding for 75 percent of State costs in adopting, and converting to the use of, such forms during 1991 and 1992.

Directs the Secretary to evaluate: (1) the potential for uniting drug price negotiations carried out by the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs with negotiations by the Federal prescription drug negotiating group to be established pursuant to this Act; (2) the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of point-of-service electronic claim management and prospective drug utilization review systems involving pharmacists; and (3) the impact on quality of care and cost-effectiveness of paying pharmacists for drug utilization review services. Requires the Secretary to negotiate with drug manufacturers who require purchasers to pay for their associated services for waiver of the application of such requirement to nursing homes, federally funded hospitals and appropriately selected outpatient pharmacies which purchase their drugs. Directs the Comptroller General to evaluate States' drug price negotiating and drug utilization review programs.

Requires the Secretary to establish a National Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee composed of medical and scientific professionals who shall continuously review and evaluate the relative safety, efficacy, and comparability of Medicaid outpatient drugs so as to determine those drugs which have therapeutic alternates and may be designated as preferred drugs via the drug price negotiating process.

Requires States which provide Medicaid coverage of prescribed drugs but have not achieved substantial drug price reductions through a negotiating program by 1993 to participate in a State or Federal prescription drug negotiating group by June 30, 1993. Directs the Secretary to establish such Federal group within one year after this Act's enactment. Excludes drugs for which there are no therapeutic alternates from drug price negotiations.

Directs the Secretary to report to the Congress by 1995 on the performance of drug price negotiating groups.