Statement attributable to:
Ryan D. Mire, MD, MACP
President, ACP
WASHINGTON October 19, 2022 – The American College of Physicians (ACP) commends the efforts announced by the Biden administration last week to help mitigate the rising cost of prescription drugs.
For many years, ACP has been concerned over the rising cost of prescription drugs. Patients often struggle to afford basic and life-saving medications prescribed by their physicians to treat diseases and chronic conditions. Now, with the ongoing impact of COVID-19, patients are even more concerned about whether they can afford their medications, whether they will have health coverage should they unexpectedly lose their jobs, or whether they’ll incur any additional health care costs associated with COVID-19.
The Biden administration’s Executive Order directs the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Innovation Center to test new payment and delivery models that would both lower drug costs and promote access to innovative therapies. Importantly the models would also support CMS’s efforts to increase utilization of value-based payment models.
Any treatment is only as effective as a patient’s ability to access the medication. Making prescription drugs more affordable is critical to ensuring that patients are able to access needed health care. We look forward to working with the administration on testing and implementing models that will help our patients afford treatments and improve physicians’ ability to care for them.
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About the American College of Physicians
The American College of Physicians is the largest medical specialty organization in the United States with members in more than 145 countries worldwide. ACP membership includes 160,000 internal medicine physicians (internists), related subspecialists, and medical students. Internal medicine physicians are specialists who apply scientific knowledge and clinical expertise to the diagnosis, treatment, and compassionate care of adults across the spectrum from health to complex illness. Follow ACP on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
Contact: Jacquelyn Blaser, (202) 261-4572, jblaser@acponline.org