A potentially “game-changing” piece of legislation currently under consideration on Capitol Hill includes a provision to cover payment for qualified clinical pharmacists delivering “pharmacogenetic consultations.”

H.R. 6000, known as “Cures 2.0 Act” – introduced by Reps. Diana DeGette (D-CO) and Fred Upton (R-MI) – would include a provision (Section 408) to establish a pilot program to cover pharmacogenetic consultations delivered by qualified clinical pharmacists.

ACCP applauds this growing understanding in Congress of the unique value that qualified clinical pharmacists provide in advanced approaches to the treatment and therapy for complex conditions in the growing area of precision medicine.

Now We Need Your Help

ACCP has been engaged in an ongoing series of meetings with the lead congressional offices to help consolidate support on Capitol Hill for this exciting legislative proposal. Now, members of Congress need to hear directly from clinical pharmacists about the importance of pharmacogenetic testing and the emerging world of precision medicine to the College’s overall goal of helping patients achieve medication optimization.

Contacting the offices of your elected officials is simple. We have prepared a letter for you to review and edit. Please take the time to personalize the letter by providing additional information about your practice and the patients you care for:

• Pharmacists across the country are working under extraordinary circumstances to improve patient outcomes through team-based models of care.
• As policy-makers assess the strengths and weaknesses of the nation’s health care infrastructure, it is vital they hear about the ongoing work of clinical pharmacists.

Simply click here to send your message to Capitol Hill. Thank you for participating in this important advocacy effort.

More About Cures 2.0

Specifically, this exciting legislation would:

• Transform how Medicare covers innovative new treatments and technologies to accelerate patient access to these new developments
• Increase access to telehealth services for Medicare and Medicaid patients, including making permanent telehealth flexibilities under the Medicare program related to the COVID-19 public health emergency
• Require more diversity in clinical trials to ensure any new drugs and treatments approved for use in the United States are both safe and effective for a greater – and more representative – portion of the population
• Provide patients with more information about the illnesses they face and the treatment options available in order to make them a more integral part of the decision-making process

The legislation would also take steps to address the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, including requiring the Department of Health & Human Services to:

• Conduct a nationwide study on the implications of long COVID
• Develop a nationwide testing and vaccine distribution strategy to be used in future pandemics

Next Steps

ACCP works with a wide range of coalitions focused on legislative and regulatory reform initiatives that integrate team-based, value-driven, evidence-based approaches into achieving patient care outcomes. The pharmacogenetic consultation provision that could cover clinical pharmacists in certain Medicare payment structures, together with the growing interest in comprehensive medication management (CMM) at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI), provides further evidence of the growing success of ACCP’s strategy to align the profession with high-profile, broadly endorsed, multi-stakeholder legislative efforts on Capitol Hill.

Working with its colleagues at the Colorado Pharmacists Society, ACCP has formally endorsed Cures 2.0 and is working with members and leaders in Congress to help advance its passage. After you write to Congress, if you would like to get more involved in this effort, contact ACCP’s Director of Government Affairs at [email protected], or visit the Pharmacogenomics Payment and Policy Taskforce housed within Get the Medications Right (GTMRx) Institute.