41 Groups Provide Feedback to CMS on Patient Engagement in Price Negotiation

The Alliance and the Global Coalition on Aging, along with 39 additional groups, submitted recommendations on improving patient engagement in the Medicare prescription drug price negotiation process. The letter, submitted on September 19, expressed the desire for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to ensure patient engagement opportunities are meaningful and contribute to the agency’s drug pricing considerations.

Recommendations to CMS in the letter include:

• Providing clear, public information in advance about the goals of CMS stakeholder meetings and potential outcomes;
• Incorporating multiple beneficiaries impacted by a given condition, as well as relevant patient advocacy groups, in listening sessions;
• Following up with publicly available summaries of key takeaways and feedback on how public input impacted the negotiation process.

The letter also shares feedback on the importance of preventing additional utilization management for drugs that are subject to negotiation, as well as concerns about the potential use of metrics that have a discriminatory impact on people with disabilities and older adults (i.e., similar metrics based on the QALY, including the evLYG) in negotiation processes.

Read the full letter.