PIPC submitted a letter to the Oregon Prescription Drug Affordability Board (PDAB) on the Board's ongoing affordability review activities.
The letter expresses concern that the legislative provisions governing the use of quality-adjusted-life-years (QALY) metric and similar measures in legislation that established the board may be interpreted narrowly. PIPC also points out that recently finalized rules governing Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act clarifies that recipients of federal financial assistance, including Medicaid programs, may not use discriminatory metrics such as QALYs.
Alternatively, PIPC recommends:
Alternatively, PIPC recommends:
- The Board should engage directly with patients and people with disabilities to learn about their real-world experiences, consistent with recommendations from experts in the patient and disability communities.
- The Board should collaborate directly with the patient and disability communities to solicit information. To date, we have seen very little participation from patients in the Board’s meetings and listening sessions. We are also concerned that the Board did not develop its survey for patients in collaboration with patients. We have learned from other states how survey data may be misleading or fail to solicit the kind of information that is most useful to Board decisions.
- The Board should respond to new federal regulations by making its process and decisions transparent related to its use of value assessments. We hope that the evidentiary basis for its decisions will be made public in a manner that is accessible and clear.
| pipc_oregon_pdab_2024.pdf |
