A planning group of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine will organize and conduct a series of public virtual workshops to explore the health care provisions of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act and discuss the implications for access to high-quality care for chronic diseases and innovation in drug development in the United States, with particular attention to cancer care. The virtual workshops will feature invited presentations by experts in drug development, health policy, clinical care, health economics, reimbursement, including representatives from industry, academia, government agencies, and people with lived experience.
The first virtual workshop will provide an overview of the IRA’s prescription drug provisions and their implementation, focusing on implications for access to high-quality care for chronic diseases. Topics may include:

• Medicare prescription drug price negotiation for selected high-expenditure drugs.
• The inflation rebate provision that imposes a financial penalty on Medicare sales for manufacturers that raise the price of drugs more than the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), a measure of inflation.
• Implications for Medicare Part B and Part D drugs commonly used to treat chronic diseases.
• Medicare Part D redesign, including the $2,000 annual out-of-pocket cap.

The second virtual workshop will explore early evidence and modeling related to patient access, affordability, and coverage decisions for cancer care. Topics may include:

• Potential impact of cost-sharing caps and pricing reforms on Medicare beneficiaries with cancer.
• Implications for formulary design and utilization management, and coverage decisions.
• Potential impact on health disparities across the care continuum.
• Unique considerations in oncology, such as the use of high-cost specialty drugs.

The third virtual workshop will examine potential implications of the IRA for innovation in research and development across chronic diseases, with a focus on cancer. Topics may include:

• Early analyses or signals related to research investment, clinical trials, and drug development pipelines.
• Differences in implications across therapeutic areas.
• Potential impacts on small and emerging companies.
• Policy or system-level approaches to support continued innovation in light of IRA provisions with sustained incentives for research, development, and post-approval evidence generation.

The planning committee will develop the agenda for the virtual workshop sessions, select and invite speakers and discussants, and moderate the discussions. A proceedings-in-brief of the presentations and discussions at the virtual workshop series will be prepared by a designated rapporteur in accordance with institutional guidelines.