Category: Chairman's Corner

PIPC Chair Testifies Before Oregon House Committee on SB 1508

2/22/2024

On February 21, 2024, PIPC Chairman Tony Coelho testified to the Oregon House Committee on Behavioral Health and Health Care supporting SB 1508.

PIPC Chairman Tony Coelho Testimony to Oregon Senate in Support of SB 1508

2/9/2024

PIPC Chairman Tony Coelho was set to testify on February 7, 2024 to the Oregon Senate Committee on Health Care supporting SB 1508. He provided this testimony in writing as the committee voted to advance the bill.

Chairman's Corner: PIPC Chairman Tony Coelho's Statement on Final Passage of H.R. 485

2/8/2024

In response to the final passage of H.R. 485, PIPC Chairman Tony Coelho is pleased to share this statement.

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: I introduced the ADA 35 years ago. Now Congress needs to act to ban a practice that devalues disabled lives

7/20/2023

Thirty-five years ago, I was proud to introduce the Americans with Disabilities Act in the House of Representatives, because I know firsthand what it is like to be devalued due to a disability — by society, potential employers, even my parents and my church. My epilepsy came with the added stigma of old Catholic doctrine that I must be possessed.

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.

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