adminThe American Medical Association (AMA) House of Delegates, at its annual meeting in Chicago, adopted policies to address the skyrocketing costs of generic prescription drugs after considering a resolution that originated from the Pennsylvania Academy of Dermatology and Dermatologic Surgery to the Pennsylvania Medical Society’s Specialty Leadership Cabinet (PAMED SLC) and was then approved by PAMED’s Board of Trustees in February.
The PAMED directive was to take an active role in encouraging the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to actively address the issue of skyrocketing generic drug prices and to also take the issue to the AMA.
The Pennsylvania resolution introduced for AMA House of Delegates consideration called on the AMA to work collaboratively with a coalition of state attorneys general, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Federal Trade Commission, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the General Pharmaceutical Association, and other stakeholders to find alternative avenues to control the increasing high cost of generic drugs.
During its annual meeting, AMA delegates considered a package of five resolutions addressing the issue, including the proposal authored by PAMED. The result was the adoption of four policies:
- Working with all relevant stakeholders, including state and federal government, to address the issue
- Advocating to support generic fair pricing legislation and educate members of Congress
- Encouraging the development of methods that increase generic prescription drug choice and competition
- Supporting measures that increase price transparency for generic prescription drugs