2020-10-29 OMA Agenda - Board of Trustees

OCC Statement on Patient Access to Care Issues Surrounding Obesity and COVID-19 During June, OCC member groups released their statement regarding “Patient Access to Care Issues Surrounding Obesity and COVID-19.” In the statement, OCC highlighted how “COVID-19 is disrupting the normal life of many Americans and throughout the world, especially individuals with obesity and its related health complications that often put them at higher risk. A growing body of literature demonstrates a direct link between obesity and poor outcomes from the COVID-19 virus. Data from New York City indicates that people with both COVID-19 and obesity are two times more likely to be admitted to the hospital, and people with severe obesity are 3.6 times more likely to require critical care, such as mechanical ventilation. Our country must acknowledge obesity for the chronic disease that it is and take steps to treat it in the same serious fashion as others such as diabetes and hypertension.” The statement continues that “while there are evidence-based treatments for people with obesity that mitigate the impacts of the disease and improve health outcomes, the present landscape of obesity care coverage remains piecemeal and laden with arbitrary hurdles to comprehensive care. As a nation we must move to eliminate these random and unscientific barriers to care – both for the long term and immediate health of those affected by obesity!” OCC has been sharing the statement with State Governors and Insurance Commissioners across the country to highlight a number of areas of obesity care and health plan coverage practices that OCC believes should be reevaluated both during, and beyond the COVID-19 public health crisis. Pennsylvania STARs Make Progress Toward Medicaid Coverage of Obesity Drugs OCC State Advocacy Representatives (STARs) for Pennsylvania continued their advocacy efforts surrounding passage of HB 410 with key policymakers in Governor Wolf’s (D) office, the State’s Department of Human Resources (DHS) and majority and minority staff with the Senate Health and Human Services Committee. The key focus of these discussions revolve around a fiscal score from the Governors’ Budget Offic e (GBO), which states that passage of HB 410 to allow Medicaid coverage of anti-obesity medications (AOMs) would result in an annual cost to the state of $88.6 million. At issue were the GBO’s assumptions that 10 percent of eligible Medicaid beneficiaries in Pennsylvania would utilize AOMs. OCC leaders Ted Kyle, Katrina Crist and Drs. Verlyn Warrington and Vicki March were joined by policy advisors Paul Dempsey and Nichole Hannah in a series of virtual meetings to inform state policymakers regarding publicly reported state Medicaid data surrounding AOM utilization and costs across the country, which state that the average utilization rate of AOM’s in Medicaid programs is 0.2 percent and the total cost of AOMs is $7,793,010. OCC leaders also shared with state policymakers an analysis that OCC did with a utilization rate of 0.2 percent and more refined Medicaid eligibility numbers based on Medicaid expansion data for Pennsylvania as well as a study on potential Medicare savings associated with coverage of AOMs. As a result of these efforts, the Pennsylvania DHS has committed to lowering the Governors’ Budget Office fiscal score for the legislation to $8.6 million – a 90 percent reduction! At the time of this report, obesity advocates were excitingly sharing these new budget numbers with Senate leadership and members of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, which will hopefully be considering the bill this month. OMA Advocacy Toolkit The OMA Advocacy Committee recently finalized its new Advocacy Toolkit, which will assist OMA members in their outreach to key federal and state policymakers. Components of the new Toolkit include among other things: • Overview of advocacy and explanation of the different areas for policy development (organized medicine, state medical boards, and legislative and regulatory opportunities at both the federal and state level. • Links to profiles and contact information for state policymakers such as Governors, State Insurance Commissioners and State Legislature Healthcare Committee Chairs • Sample policy statements and letter templates for advocacy outreach At the time of this report, the Toolkit was awaiting final Board approval. Advocacy Section of OMA Website At the time of this report, the advocacy committee has developed content for an enhanced advocacy section of the OMA website that can incorporate much of the information contained in the afore-mentioned toolkit.