The New York Step Therapy Alliance, led by Aimed Alliance, is championing a step-therapy reform bill, A.901, to ensure patients receive appropriate care without unnecessary delays and barriers. Step therapy policies, also known as “fail-first,” can harm patients by requiring them to try alternative medications before insurers will cover the initially prescribed treatment.
In a recent RochesterFirst story, Jessica Wulf, CEO of Western New York BloodCare, highlighted the dangers step therapy poses to patients with bleeding disorders. She stated, “A fail first for our patients means we would have to have a bleed. It may bleed internally in a joint, into a muscle and there’s no ‘safe’ or ‘good’ bleed. They’re all very bad.”
A.901 aims to implement additional safeguards for step-therapy practices, including prohibiting the requirement for patients to try off-label medications or to fail on more than one drug. As on June 6, 2024, the bill has passed both the New York Senate and the Assembly. Read the story here.
Read the bill here.
Last Updated on June 13, 2024 by Aimed Alliance
