Alliance to CMS: Consider Patient Outcomes, Transparency During Drug Price Negotiation Process
Published July 2, 2024
Today, the Alliance for Aging Research submitted a comment to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) regarding the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program (MDPNP) Draft Guidance for 2027. In the letter, the Alliance urges CMS to consider the impact of its policies on medical research and patient outcomes, and to adopt a more transparent and inclusive approach to price negotiation and patient engagement.
The Alliance advocates the importance of protecting beneficiaries from potential abuses of utilization management techniques, stressing that changes to the Medicare Part D program — as passed in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 — require concrete measures to prevent these abuses and ensure optimal patient care for older adults.
Emphasizing a lack of transparency in CMS’s methodology for negotiating drug prices, the letter calls for the agency to release information on how MFPs are established. This transparency would encourage relevant data collection and ensure public trust in the negotiation process.
Additionally, the Alliance advocates for methodologies that fairly represent all patient populations and voices concerns about the potential use of discriminatory metrics like Quality Adjusted Life Year (QALY) or Equal Value of Life Years (evLY) in price setting.
Finally, the Alliance also urges CMS to consider the impact of its policies on medical research and patient outcomes, advocating for a more transparent and inclusive approach to price negotiation and patient engagement.