In a letter to acting Health and Human Services Secretary Eric Hargan, Partnership to Improve Patient Care (PIPC) Chairman Tony Coelho expresses serious concerns with the proposal in the Massachusetts 1115 waiver amendment that would potentially limit access to new and innovative drug therapies. Chairman Coelho suggests to Secretary Hargan that the ​State of Massachusetts look to entities such as PCORI for insights on how to measure comparative effectiveness of treatments in real world situations. "We encourage states like Massachusetts to invest in the development of shared decision-making tools that reflect how treatments impact patients in real-world circumstances, so that patients are able to choose the treatment that is most effective for their individual needs," wrote Chairman Coelho. "You have an opportunity to partner with patients and people with disabilities to determine the outcomes that matter most to them in their treatment, measure those outcomes, and translate that information into tools that ensure patients get the right care at the right time."

In a letter to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Seema Verma, Partnership to Improve Patient Care (PIPC) Chairman Tony Coelho submitted comments on the proposed cancellation of the episode payment models. In the letter, Chairman Coelho applauded CMS for prioritizing provider participation in voluntary models. "I was pleased to learn that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services proposed to cancel the Episode Payment Models (EPMs) and Cardiac Rehabilitation (CR) incentive payment model and to rescind the regulations governing these models," wrote Chairman Coelho. "It is not because I do not think the agency should test new payment models.  It is simply because, based on input from patients and providers, these models required more work to get it right, and certainly were not seen as sufficiently evaluated to be mandatory."