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Commercial coverage of specialty drugs, 2017–2021
New study examines the role of NIH and industry in bringing new treatments into clinical settings.
New Research Finds Commercial Health Plans' Use of Prescriber Requirements Doubled and Use of Step Therapy Increased by More Than 31% for Specialty Drug Coverage
New research co-authored by NPC examines how health plan policies have become more restrictive over time.
How the Myth of Average Persists in Health Benefits
People are different and their health needs vary. Though differences among patients are common, these differences aren’t always considered in treatment and coverage decisions.
The Myth of Average: Why Individual Patient Differences Matter
NPC's "The Myth of Average" explores how patients, health care providers, insurers, and other decision-makers can better consider individual patient differences when navigating the complexities of…
Achieving “Fair Access” Requires Better Benefit Design
An Institute for Clinical and Economic Review report acknowledges that patients are still facing barriers to needed treatments as a result of their health benefit design.
Affordability Is About More Than Drug Prices
A research survey found that potential government involvement in drug pricing would be unlikely to increase patient affordability.
NPC’s New Leader: Merging Research and Data with Real-World Experience
NPC Board Chair Michael Ryan says John M. O’Brien’s arrival as the new president and CEO of NPC reinforces a vital role the biopharmaceutical industry can play in the ongoing debate about health care…
Celebrating the Use of Medicines in Keeping People Healthy
NPC President and CEO John O'Brien discusses how prescription medicines and the pharmacists who provided them helped people stay healthy at home during the pandemic.
Stakeholders Find Step Therapy Should Be Evidence-Based, Flexible and Transparent: Assessing Appropriateness Using a Consensus Approach
Stakeholders disagree on when step therapy is appropriate, but agree on a set of criteria about how to develop, implement, communicate, safeguard and evaluate step therapy protocols.
If You Must Do Step Therapy, Do It Right
Finding consensus among health care stakeholders is never easy, and that is certainly true when it comes to the use of care management tools. But there are areas of agreement, especially if we focus…
AARDA’s Randy Rutta Talks Step Therapy
In this Q&A, Randy Rutta, AARDA’s President and CEO, talks about his organization’s efforts to raise awareness about step therapy and opportunities for patient-centered reforms.
Lessons from COVID-19: Step Therapy Should Not Be a Barrier to Patient Access
Step therapy requires patients to try a clinically recognized, lower cost first-line therapy before receiving reimbursement for an alternative therapy prescribed by the physician and can delay access…
A Path of Her Own: Salama Freed, 2020-22 NPC/Duke-Margolis Health Policy Fellow
Salama Freed, PhD, has always wanted to learn about the inner-world of health policy – who shapes it, what drives it and how it gets done. She believes that her path to this experience is through the…
Do Patient Preferences Align with Value Frameworks? A Discrete-Choice Experiment of Patients with Breast Cancer
The study assessed patient preferences for aspects of breast-cancer treatments to evaluate the usual assumptions in scoring rubrics for value frameworks.
NPC Weighs in on CMS Oncology Care First Model
NPC submitted comments regarding the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation informal request for information on the Oncology Care First Model.
NPC in Specialty Pharmacy Times: International Drug Pricing Index Model Could Restrict Innovation, Access
NPC President and CEO Dan Leonard says that CMS's proposal to tie American drug prices to an international pricing index undermines efforts to prioritize value and improve patient outcomes over…
Bringing Patient-Centeredness to Quality Measurement in Health Care
Quality measures can help payers to reward better care, providers to take action to improve care, and patients to make informed decisions about where to seek care. Often, quality measures are focused…