ANNOUNCEMENT: AiArthritis to lead a national coalition to address affordability drug reviews
Ensuring Access through Collaborative Health (EACH) AND ... the second tier Patient Involved Council (PIC)
Our two level, national coalition will unite all groups (including those outside of the AiArthritis disease community) affected by affordability drug reviews in the United States (both at CMS/IRA and the Prescription Drug Affordability Boards/PDABs).
If you are affiliated with a Patient Organization or patient-supporting group OR if you are a patient whose drug may be impacted by these reviews, please sign up to learn more about joining our coalitions.
Our coalition is open to all disease groups affected by drug reviews; it is not Autoimmune Arthritis and Autoinflammatory Arthritis disease specific.
We impact policy and legislation through personal patient experiences, collaborative support, and research advocacy. Our CEO, Advocacy Program Lead, volunteer program policy lead, and several volunteers have years of experience in public policy. We are experienced in communicating with legislators and regulatory officials, writing letters, and peer-to-peer mentoring and education.
Respected Professionals. As an organization, we work to influence policy in the US and abroad primarily by speaking on behalf of fellow patients and by joining forces with other stakeholders to advance key legislative efforts. However, in 2015, our CEO consulted with bioethicists and a public policy advisor to author the Ethic of Step Therapy white paper, which concluded that while insurers have an ethical obligation to recommend the use of the lowest-cost therapy before approval of a higher-cost prescription, forcing use of preferred drugs is biased towards patients who meet general patient population standards and does not account for patients who present atypical or have co-morbidities. The "atypical" patient ethical argument has since been used by other organizations to influence policy. This ethics investigation launched our involvement in precision medicine (since 2015 - so pioneers, well before anyone else in our community had biomarkers on their radar), and has resulted in the launch of our AiArthritis Research Database (data to drive policy/Research Advocacy).
Cross Category Initiatives. While we focus on improving Education, Advocacy, and Research, often our work overlaps between these pillars - as one often influences the other. Our Managers in these three areas work together to craft our message and speak on behalf of fellow patients and educate patients/care partners to speak, too.
Research Advocacy. We strongly believe that credible research can influence policy. We aim to use data collected through our peer-to-peer conversations - and associated quantitative research - to advance legislation that impacts quality of life, access to treatments, and continuity of care.
Contact Your Legislator (USA currently) OR Send Your Story to AiArthritis and We Will Help Make Sure Your Story is Heard!
Since 2015, we have worked tirelessly to ensure therapies match the right patient at the right time - as we are all individual and require different treatments to ensure high quality of life.
We are launching our NEW AiArthritis Database, housed within FORWARD: National Data Bank for Rheumatic Diseases, which will focus on precision and personalized medicine/therapies and early diagnosis. This data will be used to influence public policy.
We believe patient input, perspectives, and priorities should guide discussions about the "value" of treatments and practices associated with institutional assessments should be curbed.
As biosimilars enter the marketplace on a broader scale, AiArthritis plans to help our peers through education and fighting for both access and consideration for those who their doctors feel are not candidates for switching.
As groups such as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and Prescription Drug Affordability Board (PDAB)s emerge in efforts to curb drug costs, AiArthritis will work diligently to include patient voices and ensure access to treatments is uninterrupted.
We believe in transparency for Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) practices, including associated prescription drugs costs, to ensure patient access to affordable treatment.
As third-party groups create schemes that appear to save therapeutic costs, AiArthritis will remain diligent to protect patients to ensure they are able to access the therapies they are prescribed.
With the rise of insurance copay diversion programs, patients may be at risk of losing coverage for their treatments mid-year. We aim to educate patients about the risks associated and teach those impacted by them to help us change this practice.
Knowledge = Empowerment is an online, classroom style, multi-dimensional learning and engagement experience led by people affected by AiArthritis diseases. Through a range of participation options available - patient-led video library, classrooms (webinars) led by patient teachers/discussion guides, FIELD TRIPS, and elevated experiences for those who want to get more involved in public policy (writing letters to and sharing stories with legislators), we have something for everyone!
As a result of this program, we hope to help patients and their loved ones:
International Foundation for AiArthritis
6605 Nottingham Ave.
St. Louis, MO 63109-2661
Copyright 2024. All rights reserved. Information on this site is intended for informational purposes only Our foundation does not engage in the practice of medicine. Please consult a physician to obtain personal healthcare and treatment options. 501(c) 3 Nonprofit Tax ID: 27-1214308.