Advocacy in Action: AHS Urges CMS to Rescind Most Favored Nation (MFN) Model

AHS fears policy will severely impact patient access to treatment

On January 26th, AHS president, Peter Goadsby, MD, PhD, FAHS sent a letter to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) urging an immediate stop to the implementation of the recently finalized “Most Favored Nation” (MFN) Model.

Given its mission to improve the care and lives of people living with headache disorders, AHS voiced in strong terms that the MFN model would have devastating effects on many patients who experience migraine.

The letter highlighted that OnabotulinumtoxinA for chronic migraine has been a necessary and critical treatment for many Americans. “It is one of only a few FDA recommended preventive treatment specifically for chronic migraine (migraine with headache on 15 or more days per month) and is also endorsed by the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) and American Headache Society in clinical guidelines and position statements,” the letter states.

The statement adds that preventive therapies like OnabotulinumtoxinA can lower direct and indirect costs as they reduce the number of monthly migraine and headache days. Given this understanding, AHS hopes CMS will reassess whether reduced utilization of this treatment could lead to a net reduction in healthcare costs, or consider another way forward.

Read the full letter here.