Abstract
The Diabetes Patient Advocacy Coalition (DPAC), a 501(c)4 organization, is a grassroots alliance of thousands of people with diabetes, caregivers, patient advocates, health professionals, disease organizations, and companies working collaboratively to promote and support public policy initiatives to improve the health of people with diabetes.
DPAC works on Capitol Hill and in statehouses across the country to elevate the patient voice in key policy discussions affecting the diabetes community. Our mission is to ensure quality of and access to care, medications, and devices for people living with diabetes and to educate, inspire, and empower patient advocates and lawmakers toward meaningful action on diabetes.
DPAC is committed to equitable health care for all Americans living with or at risk for diabetes and to fostering a welcoming and representative environment for advocates and patients.
Cofounded in 2015 by people with diabetes who understood that like diabetes, advocacy is a longterm process with no quick fixes, DPAC formed because the patient voice was missing from important policy conversations in Congress and the states. In short, you are either at the table or on the menu.
DPAC is currently working on a number of priorities that impact the diabetes community and diabetes care and education specialist specifically:
Pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) reform: We are striving to eliminate the conflict of interest inherent in the drug pricing and access system by delinking the PBM’s revenue from the price of the medication. That will remove their perverse incentive to drive patients and formularies to more expensive drugs, often at the expense of generics and biosimilars. We also are advocating for fairness in pharmacy treatment to avoid the unfair PBM business practices that are causing pharmacy closures and limiting patient choice (see our resource for state legislators on PBM reform).
Diabetes self-management training access: We partner with ADCES and the diabetes community in expanding access to diabetes self-management education (or training, as it is called in the federal bill currently before Congress).
Access to diabetes technology: We advocate for access to and patient choice in the technology patients rely on every day. Not all devices interact with each other, and the patient should have the technology that fits their personal lifestyle and health needs (see the recent white paper from the Diabetes Leadership Council). We are currently monitoring the proposed competitive bidding program from Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services that would take the number of suppliers of insulin pumps and continuous glucose monitors down from 6000 to 9 or less and change the financial model from own to rent. Both of these changes threaten to significantly disrupt patient access.
Access to obesity treatments: We advocate for access to the full spectrum of treatments of obesity. This includes access to medical nutrition therapy (MNT) and other lifestyle management therapies. We partner with ADCES and the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics on removing barriers to MNT access.
DPAC produces an ongoing patient and community educational series called DPAC Dialogues, where we dive into topics of interest. We also have a guide on What To Do When You Lose Health Insurance that provides some helpful tips on navigating a difficult situation.
We are proud to partner with ADCES and support patient access to diabetes education and nutritional therapies. We welcome you to join us and become a DPAC Champion! We will not spam you. We will inform you on topics of importance and ask for your engagement when hands-on advocacy is needed at the federal or state levels. We also urge you to follow the ADCES Advocacy Team and ensure your voice is heard through that channel as well!
Together, we can make a difference in the lives of people with diabetes! ■