Implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA)

On May 13th the Obama administration posted on the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) website notice that it granted 221 new temporary waivers in April to organizations for health care reform’s annual benefit limit requirements. The administration says that these waivers are a needed measure to stabilize insurance markets before the exchanges are operational in 2014. The list of organizations that have received waivers can be found here.

On May 16th the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) met to hear from its Methodology Committee to determine how the group would oversee comparative effectiveness research (CER). PCORI was created within the ACA and is comprised of researchers, ethicists, patient advocates, device-makers and drugmakers, as well as the directors of AHRQ and NIH to tackle a hot-button issue that many critics equate to government rationing. More information on PCORI can be found here.