About the Project
The Access and Nondiscrimination in the States Awareness Project provides public education and awareness of how states are currently valuing health care, the use of value assessments in their health care systems, and potential implications for discrimination and barriers to patient access. As our policymakers at the federal and state level explore avenues to address the cost of prescription drugs, they are frequently turning to solutions that would be detrimental to patient access, like international reference pricing, or reliance on third-party cost-effectiveness analyses to determine the “value” of prescription drugs. Cost-effectiveness analyses generally rely on the Quality-Adjusted Life Year (QALY). The QALY, along with similar metrics that treat patients as averages, is known to discriminate against people who are chronically ill or disabled.
We strongly believe that comparative clinical effectiveness research should work for patients to improve their health decisions, not against them by limiting their access in a one-size-fits-all health system. Therefore, policies to advance value-based health care must mitigate against the misapplication of research in ways that restrict patient access to optimal care, undermine physician/patient shared decision-making, and discourage continued medical progress. This project allows patients and people with disabilities to see where and how states may be using or considering using discriminatory metrics that would limit their access to needed car.
We strongly believe that comparative clinical effectiveness research should work for patients to improve their health decisions, not against them by limiting their access in a one-size-fits-all health system. Therefore, policies to advance value-based health care must mitigate against the misapplication of research in ways that restrict patient access to optimal care, undermine physician/patient shared decision-making, and discourage continued medical progress. This project allows patients and people with disabilities to see where and how states may be using or considering using discriminatory metrics that would limit their access to needed car.