News Brief Archive

2024

2/28/2024 - Encouraged congressional leadership to support and enact the Equitable Community Access to Pharmacist Services Act to ensure that Medicare beneficiaries maintain access to essential pharmacist services.

2/22/2024 - Joined over 200 orgs in urging Congress to make important telehealth flexibilities permanent, to provide certainty, and safeguard against this important policy getting left behind among competing priorities at the end of the year.

1/28/2024 - Sent comments to the FL Senate Banking and Insurance Committee in support of SB 932, legislation aiming to expand coverage of high-risk, supplemental breast screenings and diagnostic imaging with no patient cost-sharing.

1/16/2024 - Joined stakeholders in a letter to President Biden asking that he recognize March as National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month and light the White House blue to honor those we have lost and those fighting this disease.

2023

12/7/2023 - Asked HHS to issue guidance clarifying that “surveillance colonoscopy” after a colonoscopy that required polyp removal is part of screening and that patients should not face out-of-pocket costs for the follow-up procedure.

11/29/2023 - Joined over 40 orgs in a statement of support for the Find It Early Act (HR3086), legislation aiming to ensure all health plans cover high-risk screening and diagnostic breast imaging (i.e., mammograms, ultrasounds and MRIs) with no patient cost-sharing. 

11/28/2023 - As a member of the Cancer Early Detection Alliance (CEDA), sent a letter to congressional leadership expressing support for the Screening for Communities to Receive Early and Equitable Needed Services (SCREENS) for Cancer Act (S1840/HR3916).

10/27/2023 - Urged Congress to enact the FY24 Defense Appropriations Act to ensure full funding levels for the Defense Health Research Programs, including the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP).

10/17/2023 - Joined over 150 orgs in letters to House and Senate leadership expressing support for the Telehealth Expansion Act of 2023, bipartisan, bicameral legislation that would ensure continued access to telehealth services beyond 2024.

9/8/2023 - Wrote Novitas and FCSO, Medicare Administrative Contractors, expressing concern that their proposed Local Coverage Determinations “Genetic Testing for Oncology” will hinder access to clinically appropriate genetic testing.

9/8/2023 - Submitted joint comments in response to the patient illness navigation (PIN) and community health integration (CHI) provisions of the CY2024 Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Physician Fee Schedule proposed rule.

8/14/2023 - Joined stakeholders in a letter to the American College of Physicians expressing disappointment with the preventive colorectal cancer screening guidance it published, which conflicts with recommendations provided by the USPSTF, NCCRT, ACS, NCCN and other reputable organizations.

7/21/2023 - Wrote House and Senate leadership, expressing support for increased funding for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) in its staffing and administrative support of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) as part of the FY24 appropriations bill.

6/7/2023 - Joined physicians and patient advocacy groups to support California AB 632, which will allow patients to receive prostate cancer screening without a deductible, copayment, or coinsurance for prostate cancer screening, including men over the age of 40 who are at high risk for prostate cancer.

6/6/2023 - Thanked House Ways & Means Committee leadership for its consideration of The Telehealth Expansion Act. This federal bill would ensure that individuals with high-deductible health plans and health spending accounts continue to have access to telehealth services on a pre-deductible basis.

5/16/2023 - Expressed support for H.R. 1826, the Prostate Specific Antigen Screening for High-risk Insured Men Act (PSA for HIM Act), which would waive prostate cancer screening deductibles, copays and coinsurance for those at increased risk of the disease--including those with a family history or genetic predisposition to the disease, and African American men.

5/12/2023 - Thanked the sponsors of the Screening for Communities to Receive Early and Equitable Needed Services (SCREENS) for Cancer Act, and pledged support for the legislation, which will reauthorize the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program (NBCCEDP).

4/24/2023 - Joined the Defense Health Research Consortium in letters to House and Senate committee leaders encouraging continued support for the defense health research programs funded through the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP) at the Department of Defense (DoD).

4/19/2023 - Signed on to a letter thanking the President for a proposed increase in the FY24 Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) budget to support the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, helping ensure that it has the resources, staff, and processes in place to keep pace with innovation, research, and patient needs.

4/14/2023 - Joined concerned stakeholders in a letter to the CEO of UnitedHealth Group asking that a program to require prior authorization for almost all upper GI endoscopies, colonoscopies and capsule endoscopies be halted because it will result in delays for medically necessary care.

3/8/2023 - Wrote in support of California legislation that would allow at-risk patients in the state to receive prostate cancer
screening without a deductible, copayment, or coinsurance.

3/6/2023 - Joined NY Step Therapy Alliance members, writing state lawmakers in support of S.A.901, an act that will amend the rules and enforcement of step therapy protocols to better protect patients.

2/24/2023 - Signed on to a letter to congressional leadership endorsing the BENEFIT Act, legislation that would require the FDA to include how patient experience data was considered in the benefit-risk assessment framework of a new drug application. 

2/9/2023 - Joined 75 orgs in a letter of support for the HELP Copays Act, which would eliminate barriers to treatment for some of the most vulnerable Americans—those who live with serious, complex chronic illness—ensuring that they can afford the medications prescribed by their providers.

1/29/2023 - Joined a letter to President Biden asking that he recognize March as National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month and light the White House blue, the official color of colorectal cancer, to honor those lost and those fighting the disease.