Addressing Systemic Health Disparities in the U.S. Health Care System

Legislative and Regulatory Position: 

The Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP) is committed to addressing health care disparities, including identifying root causes and developing strategies to mitigate them. AMCP recognizes that health disparities derived from racial and ethnic bias and social determinants of health (SDoH) exist in the United States and are deeply rooted and complex. In addition, AMCP is committed to maximizing the personal wellbeing of all individuals and recognizes that opportunity exists to improve patient outcomes and ensure accountability for health equity among people living in the U.S., including all of those impacted by SDoH.¹  

AMCP is committed to (1) raising awareness of the prevalence of health disparities, (2) engaging the patient voice in developing coverage policies and program designs to mitigate disparities, and (3) supporting legislative and regulatory policies that address disparities.

Raising Awareness

AMCP is committed to raising awareness of the prevalence of health disparities. One way that AMCP is advancing critical conversations around disparities in medication use is by requesting pertinent submissions to JMCP.^{1, 2, 3, 4, 5} AMCP believes that the following steps are vital for addressing health disparities:  

• Acknowledging that disparities of many types exist
• Taking steps to reduce disparities
• Improving coverage policies, program designs, and quality initiatives in consultation with those impacted by disparity
• Reducing cost-sharing and increasing access for essential medications.^1,3

Another way that AMCP is advancing critical conversations is by conducting partnership forum(s). AMCP convened a forum on health disparities with more than 40 experts representing key stakeholders, including health payers and pharmaceutical manufacturers from various managed care settings and patient advocates, to discuss disparities as they relate to medication use.⁶ AMCP supports the following key principles that emerged from the forum relative to means to mitigate health disparities:

• Acknowledge that structural systems exist that can negatively impact the provision of health care, including but not limited to formulary development and benefit design processes, for specific groups due to SDoH.
• Integrate proactive strategies to improve equity, beginning with education and training, into all aspects of health care.
• View patients holistically with an understanding of the compounding effect of social determinants of health on their personal wellness.

To further build on AMCP’s work on this important subject, AMCP convened an advisory group which developed a white paper using the perspectives gathered during the Partnership Forum to reduce health disparities.⁷

Mitigating Disparities

AMCP supports engaging the patient voice in developing coverage policies and program designs to mitigate disparities. AMCP encourages efforts to address health literacy as well as efforts to thoughtfully optimize medication use for all individuals, such as mitigating existing gaps in clinical trial data and health care delivery system data and encouraging managed care organizations to develop formularies and delivery systems that decrease disparities associated with or impacted by coverage criteria, benefit offerings, quality initiatives, and other approaches. All providers of care should consider a patient’s ability to interact with and access the health care system.

AMCP and the AMCP Foundation have included measurable health equity goals into their strategic plans and initiatives.^1,5 These include an equity, diversity, and inclusion statement.⁸ In addition, discussions on potential sources of health disparities and inequities in benefit design conversations are prevalent.1

Legislative and Regulatory Policies  

AMCP supports legislative and regulatory policies that address disparities. AMCP’s Government Affairs team monitors legislation and regulations and advocates for evolving federal and state policies and developing new policies that positively impact equity. 
 
See also:

AMCP Legislative and Regulatory Positions

Revised by the AMCP Board of Directors, October, 2025

Approved by the AMCP Board of Directors, July 2022

¹ Cantrell SA. Finding inspiration to address health disparities. AMCP blog. October 24, 2021. Accessed July 25, 2021. https://www.amcp.org/Resource-Center/blog/finding-inspiration-address-health-disparities    

² Racial disparities in medication use:   JMCP’s response and call for submissions. J Manag Care Spec Pharm. 2020;26(11):1475-76. Doi:10.18553/jmcp.2020.26.111.1475. Available at https://www.jmcp.org/doi/full/10.18553/jmcp.2020.26.11.1475  

³ Hung, A., Zhong, L. and Reddy, P. (2024). Racial and social inequities in medication use: A review of articles responding to the Journal of Managed Care + Specialty Pharmacy’s Call to Action. JMCP. Available at: https://www.jmcp.org/doi/full/10.18553/jmcp.2024.30.7.736.  

⁴ Allen, A. and Hung, A. (2024). Racial and ethnic disparities related to the Medicare Part D Medication Therapy Management Program. JMCP. Available at: https://www.jmcp.org/doi/full/10.18553/jmcp.2024.30.6.609.  

⁵ AMCP Partnership Forum:  Racial health disparities – a closer look at benefit design, Journal Managed Care Specialty Pharmacy (Oct 2021) Available at https://www.amcp.org/meeting-proceedings-findings/racial-health-disparities-closer-look-benefit-design    

⁶ AMCP Health Disparities Landscape Assessment White Paper. (Dec 2023). Available at https://amcp.org/resource/amcp-health-disparities-landscape-assessment-white-paper  

⁷ AMCP strategic priorities - introduced Spring 2021. Available at:  https://www.amcp.org/about/about-amcp/amcp-strategic-priorities

⁸ Eichenbrenner, P. (June 2020). AMCP Foundation. From Paula’s Desk: Supporting AMCP to Achieve Racial Equity in Health Care. Available at: https://amcpfoundation.org/about/news-information/latest-news/paula-desk-supporting-amcp-achieve-racial-equity-health-care