On World Hepatitis Day, Contagion Live community podcast featured HIV+Hep’s Carl Schmid discussing the challenges in the fight against viral hepatitis: “Every 30 seconds someone is dying of hepatitis, & the sad thing is people don’t even know about it. Like HIV, there is so much stigma. . . . It all comes down to testing. This is an infectious disease, remarkably, that can be cured. But we need more resources.”
Copay assistance provides a safety net to help patients afford and adhere to medically-necessary medications. But, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Best Price Rule, finalized by the Trump administration in 2020, threatens patient access to these critical programs. If implemented, the final rule would allow insurers and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) to undermine copay assistance through copay accumulator adjustment programs that block patient assistance from counting towards a patient’s deductible and out-of-pocket cost-sharing requirements. Watch this virtual briefing to learn about the value of patient copay assistance programs and how you can get engaged to protect communities from the unintended consequences of the CMS Best Price Rule.
A discussion on Chronic Care Policy Alliance’s priorities and tips on how to reach out to elected officials.
Carl Schmid discusses ideas on how to minimize barriers and increase overall use of PrEP therapy in episode 13 of Managed Healthcare Executive’s “Evaluating the Current and Future Opportunities for HIV PrEP.”
Carl Schmid describes the steps that can be taken to reduce inequities in PrEP uptake, focusing on community and provider education in episode 14 of Managed Healthcare Executive’s “Evaluating the Current and Future Opportunities for HIV PrEP.”