Help Us Advocate for Patients
The Infusion Access Foundation is gearing up for its second annual Hill Day on July 24 in Washington, D.C. The foundation is bringing together 10 patient advocates and staff members to meet with federal offices on Capitol Hill. This event is an opportunity for patient champions to directly engage with policymakers and advocate for critical reforms that affect patients requiring provider-administered treatments.
Key Reforms We’re Highlighting
While on Capitol Hill, the Infusion Access Foundation team will be highlighting three key bipartisan reforms:
- The Safe Step Act (S.652/H.R.2630) aims to improve step therapy protocols in employer-sponsored plans. It outlines five specific scenarios where exceptions to an insurer’s step therapy protocol must be granted, including cases where required treatments have been ineffective or could lead to severe consequences if delayed.
- The Improving Seniors’ Timely Access to Care Act (S.4532/H.R.8702) focuses on modernizing and streamlining prior authorization processes in Medicare Advantage (MA) plans. It would require plans to establish electronic prior authorization processes and increase transparency through mandated reporting on key metrics such as denial rates. While this act appears only to impact Medicare Advantage enrollees, it would require commercial payers who contract as MA plans to update their processes and establish a standard that would hopefully spread beyond MA plans.
- The Help Ensure Lower Patient (HELP) Copays Act (H.R.830/S.1375) – This legislation aims to prohibit the use of “copay accumulators” in the Affordable Care Act exchanges. Doing so would ensure that copay assistance counts towards a patient’s cost-sharing, making treatments more accessible for those with complex autoimmune conditions requiring specialty biologics
Get Involved With Our Advocacy
The Infusion Access Foundation team hopes that by sharing compelling patient stories to illustrate the urgent need for these reforms, we can inspire key lawmakers to support and cosponsor these bills. Our team of patient champions will explain the challenges faced by patients due to burdensome utilization management practices, such as onerous step therapy protocols, outdated prior authorization requirements, and copay accumulator and maximizer programs.
Even if you can’t attend this year’s Hill Day, you can still make an impact from home. Send a letter to your federal lawmakers asking for their support of the Safe Step Act or the HELP Copays Act by clicking either link and signing up for Infusion Access Foundation action alerts here.
