Do You Know the Face of Someone with Essential Tremor?
Is she nervous? Is she cold? Maybe she drank too much coffee. Could she be going through withdrawal? Maybe she’s just getting old.
New Video Explores Health Plan Specialty Tiers
When you pick up your monthly prescription at the pharmacy counter, you may owe a co-pay of $10 or $20. Or you may pay much, much more. Why the discrepancy? As a new video from the Alliance for Patient Access explains, out-of-pocket costs are determined by health plans’ tiered payment structures. Insurers group […]
Living with Stigma
Living with a movement disorder means living with stigma. Stares, whispers and pointing are just another part of the disease burden for the millions of Americans with Tourette, essential tremor, tardive dyskinesia, Huntington’s disease or other movement disorders. The stigma can have wide-range effects on a patients’ quality of life. Tammy Dodderidge of the […]
New Data, Same Access Challenges for Heart Patients
The risk of death may be lower for certain patients taking cholesterol-lowering PCSK9 inhibitors, new research shows. But how many patients will actually be able to realize the drugs’ benefits? Research Results The latest research found that patients had a significantly lower risk of major cardiovascular events when taking PCSK9 inhibitors. Announced at this weekend’s […]
IfPA Report Cards: 1 in 4 Heart Patients Can’t Access Innovative Rx
Health plans said “no” to one in every four Americans whose doctor prescribed a cholesterol-lowering PCSK9 inhibitor in 2017. And that, according to the Institute for Patient Access’ new access report cards, means that more than 78,000 heart patients went without medicine that could have reduced their risk of heart attack and stroke. National Report […]
Working Group Airs Concerns about Access to Diabetes Care
There was a lot of head nodding at the inaugural meeting of the Alliance for Patient Access’ Diabetes Therapy Access Working Group. Especially when the topic turned to non-medical switching. “Patients get flipped between insulins,” explained Children with Diabetes President Jeff Hitchcock, “and, as often as not, the one that works for them ends up […]
Europeans Work to Turn Health Care Rights into Realities
by Brian Kennedy, Executive Director, Alliance for Patient Access Declaring equal rights is a noble gesture. But history teaches us that it is just the first step in a complex, years-long process – actually establishing and protecting those rights. I was reminded of this reality just recently, when I spoke at a meeting of the European […]
Balancing Opioid Policy and Pain Management
Thursday marked the White House Opioid Summit, which welcomed 200 affected Americans to discuss the crisis with Cabinet members. President Donald Trump declared the opioid abuse epidemic a public health emergency last fall.
Making Treatment Less Rare for Rare Disease Patients
Waiting is a fact of life for patients with rare diseases such as cystic fibrosis.
Many of these men and women, whose disease causes wheezing and frequent lung infections, live waiting for new and effective medications. They have to delay activities due to symptoms that make breathing a struggle. They wait for treatment, fighting through health plan barriers such as prior authorization or awaiting the decision of opaque bureaucracies such as Medicaid pharmacy and therapeutics committees.
Should Medicaid Patients be Required to Work?
Patients covered by Medicaid in Kentucky and Indiana could soon find themselves in a difficult position. According to new rules, recipients must complete 80 hours of “community engagement” or risk losing their health coverage.
