As Chairman of the Partnership to Improve Patient Care (PIPC), I want to express my sincere congratulations to President-elect Joe Biden. Patients and people with disabilities are eager and excited to work with the President-elect and his team on policies that will improve their health and quality of life.
We are relieved that the President-elect is committed to ensuring people with disabilities are not denied the health care they need based on the use of the discriminatory quality-adjusted life year (QALY) in Medicare and Medicaid, a position that has strong bipartisan support. We are equally committed to working with the new administration and the new Congress on health reforms that improve the affordability of treatments without the discriminatory implications imposed by health care evaluations relying on QALYs and similar metrics based on averages.
No patient is average. As the new Congress and administration advance much-needed policies to address patient affordability, entities such as the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) have the potential to play an invaluable role in demonstrating the differential impact of treatments on subpopulations, allowing the United States to advance patient-centered policies uniquely suited to its diverse health system.
References:
About PIPC
Since its founding, the Partnership to Improve Patient Care (PIPC) has been at the forefront of applying principles of patient-centeredness to the nation’s health care system – from the generation of comparative clinical effectiveness research at the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), to the translation of evidence into patient care in a manner that achieves value to the patient. Having driven the concepts of patient-centeredness and patient engagement in the conduct of research, PIPC looks forward to bringing the voices of patients and people with disabilities to the discussion of how to advance patient-centered principles throughout an evolving health care system.
No patient is average. As the new Congress and administration advance much-needed policies to address patient affordability, entities such as the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) have the potential to play an invaluable role in demonstrating the differential impact of treatments on subpopulations, allowing the United States to advance patient-centered policies uniquely suited to its diverse health system.
References:
- President-elect Joe Biden’s responses to the AAPD/NCIL questionnaire, page 7
- Statement against QALYs in DNC Platform, page 31
- Republican position against use of QALYs in Medicaid, New York Times, 1992
- Colloquy, remarks by former Senator Michael Enzi opposing cost effectiveness research, 2009, p. S1796
- PCORI information
About PIPC
Since its founding, the Partnership to Improve Patient Care (PIPC) has been at the forefront of applying principles of patient-centeredness to the nation’s health care system – from the generation of comparative clinical effectiveness research at the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), to the translation of evidence into patient care in a manner that achieves value to the patient. Having driven the concepts of patient-centeredness and patient engagement in the conduct of research, PIPC looks forward to bringing the voices of patients and people with disabilities to the discussion of how to advance patient-centered principles throughout an evolving health care system.
