Letters, Statements & Analysis
AMCP communicates the importance of managed care pharmacy by collaborating with members to provide comments, analysis, and testimony to Congress and federal and state agencies on the impact of proposed regulations and laws on managed care pharmacy and patients.
The Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP) supports the passage of Senate Bill 1024. This bill would remove the December 31, 2016 sunset date currently in force which allows health care payment or benefit provider’s access to the state electronic system for monitoring schedules 2-5 controlled substances.
On June 15, 2016, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC)1 released its June 2016 Report to the Congress: Medicare and the Health Care Delivery System2. Of the 347-page report, three chapters focus on examining policy issues related to prescription drugs, with a particular focus around “rapid growth in drug prices, which can affect beneficiary access to needed medications, as well as the financial sustainability of the Medicare program.”
The Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP) is writing to express our opposition to certain mandated provisions in S. 3419 – C, an act establishing and mandating requirements for step therapy programs used by insurers, et al. This legislation as proposed would impose unnecessary additional requirements for an insurer’s step therapy program.
The Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP) acknowledges that abuse deterrent opioid analgesic drug products are appropriately prescribed for certain patients, but should not be required by state mandates. For this reason, AMCP opposes House Bill 1048 because it implements a state mandate requiring the use of the abuse deterrent products that may not be necessary for every patient.
The Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP) thanks the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) for its work in developing strategies to address the growing opioid epidemic in the United States and for the opportunity to provide comments in response to the draft technical brief titled “Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) Models of Care for Opioid Use Disorder in Primary Care Settings.”
As healthcare and pharmaceutical supply chain stakeholders, we are all carefully watching the development of the biosimilars market in the United States. As policymakers look at ways to control spending growth in the healthcare sector, biosimilars offer a unique opportunity to create savings and improve patient access, similar to what the generics market has done for small-molecule therapies.
The Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP) thanks the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) for its work in developing strategies to address the growing opioid epidemic in the United States and for the opportunity to provide comments in response to the proposed rule “Medication Assisted Treatment for Opioid Use Disorders (RIN 0930-AA22)” published in the Federal Register on March 30, 2016.
On behalf of the American Pharmacists Association (“APhA”), the National Community Pharmacists Association (“NCPA”) and the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (“AMCP”), we appreciate the opportunity to provide input on the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (“SAMHSA”) proposed rule, Medication Assisted Treatment for Opioid Use Disorders (“Proposed Rule”).
The Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP) appreciates that the Senate and House have each passed S. 524 and it is now under consideration by your Conference Committee. We wanted to take this opportunity to renew our strong support for passage of S. 524. AMCP supports a holistic, comprehensive, and multi-stakeholder approach among health care providers and patients that truly addresses the opioid epidemic.
We, the undersigned organizations representing a research and policy organization, healthcare plan sponsors, managed care pharmacists, and pharmacy benefit managers, urge conferees to include a provision in the final legislation that would authorize the use of patient review and restriction (PRR) programs by Medicare plan sponsors.
The Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP) appreciates the opportunity to comment on Sub. H.B. No. 505 regarding the regulation of biological products and the substitution of interchangeable biological products when dispensed by pharmacists. AMCP is opposed to this legislation as it places an undue burden on the dispensing of interchangeable biological products once approved by the FDA.
The Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP) is writing to express our concerns with House Bill 791 – an act mandating that health plans and other health insurers follow a government mandated Step Therapy Exception Determination process.
