Category: Chairman's Corner

Chairman Coelho: Better Research Can Prevent Discriminatory Outcomes

10/6/2023

This Letter to the Editor originally appeared in Bloomberg on October 5, 2023

The Bloomberg editorial board’s article calling the rationale for opposition from the disability community to the use of quality-adjusted life years, or QALYs, “dubious” dismisses decades of evidence that these types of measures discriminate.

PIPC Chair Tony Coelho Testifies to Massachusetts Legislature Supporting Statewide QALY Ban

9/20/2023

On September 20, 2023, the Massachusetts Joint Committee on Health Care Financing considered legislation, H. 1183 and S. 730, that would prohibit reliance on discriminatory measures, including quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) to determine whether a particular health care treatment is cost effective, recommended, the value of a treatment, or in determining coverage, reimbursement, appropriate payment amounts, cost-sharing, or incentive policies or programs.

Chairman's Corner: A look at the Use of Patient-Centered Outcomes in Value Assessment

7/25/2023

The Partnership to Improve Patient Care (PIPC) has long expressed frustration with value assessments of health care that fail to incorporate outcomes that matter to patients into their conclusions about what care may be worth. We commissioned Avalere to do a deep dive to better understand how the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) integrates patient input and preferences in its value assessments.

Chairman's Corner: In Medicare Drug Price Negotiations, Avoid Metrics Steeped In Stigma

4/24/2023

PIPC Chairman Tony Coelho

In a January 4 Health Affairs Forefront article, “Options for CMS Drug Price Negotiations,” Daniel Ollendorf and Dominic Voehler discuss pricing methodologies based on how much a drug improves health. However, the authors overemphasize reliance on frameworks that, especially for people with disabilities, are red flags due to their reliance on valuing people’s lives in dollars. Instead, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has an opportunity to achieve a level of patient-centeredness that other programs lack.

Statement on H.R. 485: The Protecting Health Care for All Patients Act

3/23/2023

For Immediate Release
March 23, 2023

PIPC Chairman Tony Coelho issued the following statement on H.R. 485, the Protecting Health Care for All Patients Act.

Chairman's Corner: Chairman Coelho Testifies in Oregon Against Use of QALYs

11/18/2022

This blog was adapted from testimony delivered by PIPC Chairman Tony Coelho to Oregon's Health Evidence Review Commission (HERC) on November 17, 2022.

Thank you for allowing me to testify again today. I want to start by saying I appreciate that the commission chose not to vote today on a policy to use the quality-adjusted life year.

Chairman's Corner: Aligning Health Technology Assessment with Efforts to Advance Health Equity

11/13/2022

As Chairman of the Partnership to Improve Patient Care (PIPC), I could not be more pleased to see the widespread emphasis among health stakeholders on advancing health equity. As stated by the Centers for Disease Control, racism is a public health crisis. It will take all facets of the health care system to address the effects of stigma and discrimination on health and access to health care.

PIPC Chairman Coelho Testifies to Oregon HERC that QALYs are Contrary to the ADA

10/6/2022

On October 6, PIPC Chair Tony Coelho testified in response to the Oregon Health Evidence Review Committee's proposed options for continuing its use of the discriminatory quality-adjusted-life-years metric.

Chairman's Corner: A Step Backward — No Voice for Stakeholders in Updated Reconciliation Provisions

7/14/2022

Image of PIPC Chair Tony Coelho

Congress is again debating health care payment reforms that impact the availability of innovative treatments, with the newest iteration of draft legislation not only failing to be responsive to calls from the disability community to unambiguously bar the use of discriminatory value metrics like the quality-adjusted life year (QALY) across federal programs, but also providing no opportunity for affected stakeholders to provide input.

Chairman's Corner: Don’t Let Payer Investments in QALYs Undermine California’s Health Equity Goals

6/21/2022

Image of PIPC Chair Tony Coelho

As a former California Congressman and founder of the Coelho Center for Disability Law, Policy and Innovation at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, I am invested in advancing disability rights in California. I also believe it is imperative that health care, including prescription drugs, are affordable to all patients and persons with disabilities.

Chairman's Corner: Recent Polling Finds Strong Support for Congress to End Use of Discriminatory Metrics Across Federal Programs

11/23/2021

This op-ed originally appeared in Morning Consult on November 23, 2021

Ten years after the Partnership to Improve Patient Care released its first public opinion survey, our latest poll underscores how vitally important it is for lawmakers to maintain and strengthen safeguards for patients and people with disabilities in all health care policies.

Chairman's Corner: Washington Must Help Patients Choose, Not Dictate Their Care

9/15/2021

This op-ed originally appeared in The Hill on September 14, 2021

Image of PIPC Chair Tony Coelho

Over a decade ago, I founded the Partnership to Improve Patient Care with a basic principle: Patients are best served when they are informed and empowered to decide which care options are best for them; they are poorly served when policymakers in Washington dictate which options are best.

Chairman's Corner: PIPC's Commitment to Nondiscrimination

4/22/2021

Image of PIPC Chairman Tony Coelho

Today, the House reintroduced legislation - modeled on what was known as H.R. 3 when it was introduced in 2019 - that would rely on quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) to value health care, which are well known to discriminate against people with disabling and chronic conditions, especially in communities of color that are not well represented in the research literature.

Chairman's Corner: CBO Confirms Use of Discriminatory Metrics in H.R. 3

2/10/2021

Image of PIPC Chairman Tony Coelho

The fight against disability discrimination in health care is not new. For 30+ years we have fought the use of metrics that discriminate in our healthcare system, like the Quality-Adjusted Life Year (QALY). In 2019, patients and people with disabilities, myself included, dared to question House legislation known as H.R. 3 which sought to lower the prices of drugs by referencing discriminatory reimbursement strategies from foreign governments, many of which rely on the QALY thereby restricting access to care for people with chronic conditions and disabilities.

Chairman's Corner: Tennessee Medicaid Waiver Shows Callous Disregard for Patients and People with Disabilities

1/19/2021

Image of P|PC Chairman Tony Coelho

It is hard to know where to begin in such a moment. In my lifetime, I have never seen anything like this riotous transition of power, with insurrection led by a power-hungry President and his delegates. While the world is watching insurrection, agencies under his control are pushing out rules and waivers that may not be easily undone.

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The PIPC Blog

Chairman Coelho: Better Research Can Prevent Discriminatory Outcomes

PIPC Chair Tony Coelho Testifies to Massachusetts Legislature Supporting Statewide QALY Ban

Chairman's Corner: A look at the Use of Patient-Centered Outcomes in Value Assessment

Chairman's Corner: In Medicare Drug Price Negotiations, Avoid Metrics Steeped In Stigma

Statement on H.R. 485: The Protecting Health Care for All Patients Act

Chairman's Corner: Chairman Coelho Testifies in Oregon Against Use of QALYs

Chairman's Corner: Aligning Health Technology Assessment with Efforts to Advance Health Equity

PIPC Chairman Coelho Testifies to Oregon HERC that QALYs are Contrary to the ADA

Chairman's Corner: A Step Backward — No Voice for Stakeholders in Updated Reconciliation Provisions

Chairman's Corner: Don’t Let Payer Investments in QALYs Undermine California’s Health Equity Goals

Chairman's Corner: Recent Polling Finds Strong Support for Congress to End Use of Discriminatory Metrics Across Federal Programs

Chairman's Corner: Washington Must Help Patients Choose, Not Dictate Their Care

Chairman's Corner: PIPC's Commitment to Nondiscrimination

Chairman's Corner: CBO Confirms Use of Discriminatory Metrics in H.R. 3

Chairman's Corner: Tennessee Medicaid Waiver Shows Callous Disregard for Patients and People with Disabilities

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