ATAP News

The AACU through the Alliance for Transparent & Affordable Prescriptions (ATAP) is leading the charge for change in PBM’s and the drug supply chain. They challenge the middlemen with making “coverage decisions based on what’s financially advantageous to them through the drug rebate system – even if those decisions put patients at risk by complicating access to medicines that prevent heart attack, stroke and death.”

On September 23, members of ATAP were on the Hill in support of Section 306 of the Lower Health Care Costs Act, which is a Senate HELP Committee bill focused in large part on surprise billing. Section 306 contains comprehensive PBM reform. "We kept our focus on the Senate with the main goal of expressing support for inclusion of 306," said ATAP President Dr. Robert Levin. "The feedback from staff was overwhelmingly supportive with regard to the substance of section 306, which is fantastic in light of the lobbying the PBMs are doing against it."

The Alliance for Transparent and Affordable Prescriptions (ATAP) consists of twenty-three patient and provider groups who are concerned about the role pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) play in our drug supply chain. As prescribers and patients, we have seen firsthand the negative effect that some of the business practices of PBMs are having on patients’ ability to access needed medications. As such, we strongly support Section 306 (“Health Plan Oversight of Pharmacy Benefit Manager Services”) of S. 1895 as reported out of the HELP Committee.