The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee recently held a markup and advanced four bills that regulate pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) and increase patient access to necessary treatments. The Association for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) is advocating for PBM reform as we continue to hear from you and your colleagues about how challenging some PBMs are making it for patients to obtain access to their treatments and the additional administrative and financial burdens imposed on physicians. The Committee also considered many timely health care amendments, including language from the Safe Step Act (S. 652), to protect patients from harmful step therapy protocols. ASCO and other provider organizations and state societies, including MSCO, sent a letter to the Committee in advance of the mark up, urging the Committee to consider and advance the Safe Step Act. We were successful in our advocacy; the Safe Step Act language advanced out of Committee for the first time since its introduction.

Keep our advocacy going. Contact your lawmakers to urge them to cosponsor the Safe Step Act.