AMCP 2026 Policy Push Targets Value-Based Care Access Expansion: Adam Colborn, JD

The 2026 annual Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP) meeting, aimed at addressing gaps, novel therapies, and strategies, kicked off on April 13, 2026.

The American Journal of Managed Care^® spoke with Adam Colborn, JD, vice president of congressional affairs at AMCP. Colborn underscored the importance of 3 new bills currently underway and priorities for AMCP, which would help broaden patient access to value-based care structures and reimbursement models.

These 3 models are the Medicaid VBPs for Patients Act (H.R. 2666/S. 1637), designed to increase the use of value-based care in Medicaid by expanding access to high-cost therapies to Medicaid beneficiaries. The Access to Prescription Digital Therapeutics Act is focused on creating a new statutory benefit category for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, which would also increase access to therapies for patients and reduce barriers to care, Colborn said.

The last bill he mentioned as a focus for AMCP is the Equitable Community Access to Pharmacy Services Act, which would reimburse pharmacists under Medicare Part B for specific respiratory diseases such as the flu or COVID. “Right now, for Medicare patients, they get the products, so whatever the cost of a test or treatment, they get those reimbursed by Medicare,” he said. “But the other part of it is their time, and that doesn't get paid for. And so this bill would help do that, hopefully promote access to care for Medicare patients.”

However, despite these initiatives, Colborn said that the health care market often outpaces Congress, quite often leaving gaps in both care access models and patients’ access to care.

“A lot of times market players will see something coming down the pike, they'll adjust, and Congress will still do the thing that they were going to do anyway, and no one really feels a difference, right?” he said.