“Missing from our nation’s effort to end HIV is a national PrEP program that covers the cost of the medications, associated labs, and prescriber time for those who lack health insurance along with the necessary provider and community outreach to increase PrEP uptake, particularly among the communities most impacted by HIV,” HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute executive director Carl Schmid said in a statement Monday (Nov. 28). “We call on Congress to take immediate steps to correct this by including new funding to begin a national PrEP program at the CDC in the fiscal year 2023 spending bill currently being considered.”
Expert: Long-acting injectable PrEP can increase adherence, but ‘more education for both the community, providers’ is needed
Pharmacy Times® interviewed Carl Schmid, executive director of the HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute, on how the long-acting injectable PrEP compares to oral PrEP in terms of efficacy and safety and whether pharmacists are able to administer this long acting injectable for patients.
How do patient assistance programs work? The pros and cons of prescription coupons and more.
In August, the HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute, the Diabetes Leadership Council, and the Diabetes Patient Advocacy Coalition filed a lawsuit challenging the federal rule that allows co-pay accumulators. Lawmakers in 14 states and Puerto Rico have outlawed accumulator programs, but those laws only apply to small group plans and marketplace plans because large group plans and self-funded employer plans are governed by the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 and not state laws.
Is prescription copay assistance contributing to rising drug prices? Why buyers should beware.
“This practice is not only illegal but increases the cost of prescription drugs for millions of patients nationwide,” said Carl Schmid, executive director of the HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute in a press release announcing the suit in August. “Nearly one in four Americans taking prescription drugs struggles to afford them. The growing practice of insurers and PBMs not counting copay assistance is one reason why.”
HIV/AIDS: Federal strategy includes QOL indicators for first time
“There are so many other things that influence HIV in someone living with HIV, who are at risk for HIV,” Carl Schmid, executive director of the HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute, told Medscape Medical News. “So much more is the lived experience, the social determinants of health, and all the things that are going on in people’s lives.” A former co-chair of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) and current PACHA member, Schmid agreed that medications, testing, viral suppression, and prevention are all critical. But some of the factors that help people to stay on medication and remain virally suppressed or HIV negative have often been overlooked or discounted.