The EACH/PIC Coalition submitted a comment letter to the Washington Prescription Drug Affordability Board (PDAB) sharing best practices on patient engagement and giving specific feedback on draft surveys released by the PDAB.
The letter states:
“Our goal is to encourage the Washington PDAB to adopt a patient engagement framework that emphasizes authenticity, inclusivity, and collaboration from the very beginning of its work.”
“Across multiple states, PDABs have faced significant shortcomings in collecting and applying patient data:
- Low response rates: Affordability surveys in states such as Oregon and Colorado suffered from low patient engagement and the data gleaned was insufficient to capture representative experiences.
- Overly simplified questions: Many surveys rely on yes/no or multiple-choice formats asking if a drug is “affordable,” without probing for reasons behind that perception.
- Limited transparency: In some cases, patient input was reduced to staff summaries, stripping away context and weakening the value of authentic narratives.”
“These limitations left boards with inadequate data to identify and address the true drivers of patient hardship. Washington has the opportunity to learn from these experiences and create a process that avoids these pitfalls.”