On May 20, ACR representatives held more than 100 video meetings with Congressional leaders about the need to reform step therapy and alleviate pediatric workforce shortages. You can still add your voice by asking your members of Congress to support the Safe Step Act and fund the Pediatric Subspecialty Loan Repayment Program.
Rep. Raul Ruiz co-introduced the Safe Step Act in April and has helped educate members of Congress about how step therapy hurts patient outcomes and care.
Rheumatology professional and patients visited with 117 legislators and their staffs during the 2019 Advocates for Arthritis event to champion better rheumatology patient care and access.
The 2019 event, to be held Sept. 9-10 in Washington, D.C., will bring together rheumatology professionals and patients to advocate on behalf of the rheumatology community.
Step therapy (or fail first) policies introduce significant barriers to access to effective treatments for patients with rheumatic diseases. They also impose significant administrative and cost burdens on providers and practices. The ACR and ARP are advocating state governments, Congress and regulatory agencies limit the impact of these policies on access to care by creating…
As the practice of step therapy grows more pervasive throughout the insurance industry, the protocols become increasingly confusing to navigate. Steps vary from insurer to insurer based on plan type, and formulary differences are too often based on economic incentives rather than outcome-based medicine. Patients are often left hanging in the balance while physicians’ offices…
This year, the American Medical Association (AMA) convened its annual House of Delegates (HOD) meeting June 8–12 in Chicago to discuss emerging and public health issues. Among the many policies and practices discussed: two resolutions put forth by the ACR on behalf of ACR and ARP members, one concerning prior authorization and another concerning step…
Step therapy reform has been a hot topic and major focus of the ACR’s advocacy activity in states this legislative session. Washington, Oregon, Wisconsin and Florida are all considering step therapy bills that stand good chance of passing this legislative year. Virginia and Georgia have already passed step therapy laws. When these two new laws…
CHICAGO—ACR leaders described a series of looming legislative and regulatory threats to rheumatologists and their patients—including the proposed collapsing of evaluation and management (E/M) coding and potential changes to step therapy rules—and urged everyone in the field to make their voices heard to quash the proposals. They also recounted recent victories in the policy realm…
On May 25, with Gov. Greg Abbott’s signing of Senate Bill 680, Texas became the fourth state this year to increase protection for patients subject to insurers’ step therapy protocols. The State of Texas Association of Rheumatologists (STAR) joined with 35 other professional societies and patient advocacy organizations in urging passage of S.B. 680. The…