... Reasonable people are left to ask: how can a scientifically-proven treatment that reduces mortality in a definable population be such an afterthought in our health care system? There is truly no good answer. Indeed, this is an unacceptable and indefensible outcome in an area that affects hundreds of thousands of Americans… Medicine cannot be a backwater where historic inequities in care are much discussed, where the statistics of lives cut short are duly recorded, but not a finger is lifted to address systemic problems. Black lives matter in our streets, in our hospitals, in our clinics, and in our physician's offices. Indeed, every American life matters, and deserves equal access to the treatment and care that science determines to be in their best interest.” |
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The National Minority Quality Forum’s measure will incentivize healthcare providers to ensure that eligible African American patients with chronic heart failure receive the highest standard of care as the benefits of the fixed-dose combination have been published in the New England Journal of Medicine and other peer-reviewed sources… Most importantly however, it will create equity in health care quality and outcomes, quality measures that recognize and value the full diversity of heart failure patients. |
Despite the treatment’s demonstrated efficacy, and guidelines recommending its use as the standard of care, alarmingly few African American patients are being prescribed this FDA-approved treatment. CMS claims data indicates that 90% of the eligible black patients meeting the indication do not receive this therapy. Acknowledging that this is a new eMeasure with overall performance data currently unavailable, I believe the Committee’s approval represents an indispensable opportunity to fully capture the extent of the disparity created when eligible African American patients do not receive this life-saving treatment. |
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I am a cardiologist in an urban academic setting and I am writing to express my support for the NQF Cardiovascular Standing Committee recommendation in its Cardiovascular 2015-2016 Draft Report to approve eMeasure #2764 for trial use… I agree with the Committee’s findings that the measure warrants Approval for Trial Use because of its importance, use and usability, and feasibility, with additional lead time for reliability and validity testing results that will support full NQF endorsement.” |
The Committee’s draft report correctly notes that the only data relied on by the above guidelines were from studies using a fixed-dose combination. According to the FDA, neither of the component compounds are approved for this fixed-dose therapy, as neither has an indication for HF in their label. I applaud the Committee for appropriately limiting the measure to capture this specific treatment, as a similar measure already exists that does not require a fixed-dose combination.” |
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