The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) plays a pivotal role in shaping national standards for coverage, reimbursement, and value assessment—ultimately influencing patients’ access to needed therapies. Patient organizations bring unique, real-world insights that can shape CMS’s decisions on treatment access, yet many groups are unaware of how or when to effectively engage.
The FasterCures Vital Voices effort equips patient organizations with the knowledge and strategies to engage effectively with CMS and inform decisions on therapeutic access. This collection brings together resources that provide both an understanding of CMS’s structure and mandates, as well as practical strategies for building coalitions, collecting patient experience data, and navigating state-level policy. Together, these materials offer real-world insights and actionable approaches that strengthen patient organizations’ engagement with CMS and elevate the patient voice in its activities and decisions.
