Caroline Bradford

Patient, Consumer, and Public Health Coalition Comment to CMS on CT Quality Measures Included in the Proposed Rule for the Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting (IQR) Program

June 9, 2023: We support this CT quality measure because it establishes a floor and a ceiling to provide an optimal level of radiation exposure for imaging for numerous different conditions, without reducing the diagnostic benefits of those scans.

Medicare outlines plan to expand coverage for costly new Alzheimer’s drugs

Washington Post, June 1, 2023: CMS announces that Medicare will cover FDA fully approved Alzheimer’s treatments for patients in a registry that will evaluate safety and efficacy. NCHR explains why this is essential to learn which patients are most likely to benefit and which are most likely to be harmed.

NCHR Comments on EPA Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances National Primary Drinking Water Regulation

May 30, 2023: We agree that this proposed rule will improve public health, reducing cancer, heart disease, stroke, low birth weight, and other harms to adults and children. However, we have several recommendations to improve the proposed rule. The PFAS limit should be changed to 2 parts per trillion (ppt) and the EPA needs more explicit limits to prevent a weakening of these regulations. Finally, companies that produce PFAS should bear the financial burden.

Could new drugs for early Alzheimer’s really signal the end of dementia? These women say ‘breakthrough’ medicines have halted their mental decline. But do side-effects – and cost – outweigh the benefits…

Daily Mail, May 30, 2023: The Daily Mail reports on new Alzheimer’s drugs that are approved in the US but not in the UK. Dr. Zuckerman & other experts ask: Are they worth the costs or the risks? Patients want access but do these drugs really work? Mild cognitive impairment can change daily without treatment – we all have good days and bad days.

NCHR Comments on the FDA Draft Guidance on Clinical Trial Considerations to Support Accelerated Approval of Oncology Therapeutics

May 26, 2023: FDA draft guidance contained numerous recommendations that would improve the quality of research submitted in support of accelerated approval for oncology drugs. However, we recommended the FDA explicitly specify that studies need to have a majority of patients enrolled prior to receiving accelerated approval and that they advise against the use of single-armed trials.