AMCP Partnership Forum: Patient input and payer decision-making

There has been growing consensus for the health care community to become more patient centered by considering patient needs, preferences, and values in decision-making. To advance partnership between payers and patient representatives to gather patient input and incorporate their perspective on the broad range of managed care pharmacy decisions, the AMCP held a multistakeholder Partnership Forum on December 6 and 7, 2023, in Alexandria, Virginia. Forum participants were asked to (1) identify opportunities for patient representatives to engage with payers and other managed care pharmacy decision-makers, (2) recognize challenges and propose potential solutions to establish patient engagement programs between payers and patient representatives, and (3) review and provide input on draft frameworks created by the 2023-24 AMCP Patient Voice Advisory Group. Key themes that emerged from the participant discussion included to assemble and draw upon successful examples and best practices, recognize different levels of engagement, build trust and relationships proactively, create defined access points and open dialogue channels, incorporate the patient perspective as an element of coverage decision-making, leverage existing patient data and reports, crystallize a key message furthering common goals, and facilitate ongoing education and learning.