Fast Facts
- What was the Citizens’ Health Care Working
Group?
- What was the mission of the Citizens’ Health
Care Working Group?
- What was the relationship between AHRQ and the Citizens’
Health Care Working Group?
- Who are the Citizens’ Health Care Working
Group members?
- How were the members of the Citizens’ Health
Care Working Group selected?
- What questions did the statute require the Citizens’
Health Care Working Group to seek answers to?
- What activities was the Citizens’ Health Care
Working Group required to pursue and what products must it generate?
- Why were hearings an integral part of the Citizens’
Health Care Working Group's responsibilities?
- What information did the law require in The
Health Report to the American People?
- When and where were Community Meetings held by the
Citizens’ Health Care Working Group?
- How were the Citizens’ Health Care Working
Group’s Community Meetings structured?
- How were audiences attracted to the Citizens’
Health Care Working Group’s Community Meetings?
- What happened after the Citizens’ Health Care
Working Group’s Community Meetings?
- What happened after the public comment period on
the Citizens’ Health Care Working Group’s Interim Recommendations?
- What will happen after the Citizens’ Health
Care Working Group issues its Final Recommendations?
- What Congressional committees are required to hold
hearings on the Citizens’ Health Care Working Group’s
Final Recommendations?
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What was the Citizens’ Health Care Working Group?
Congress authorized the Citizen’s Health Care Working Group as a provision of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act Of 2003. This provision was sponsored by Senators Ron Wyden of Oregon and Orrin Hatch of Utah. The mission of the Working Group has been to provide a nationwide public debate about improving the American health care system so that health care “works for all Americans” and to use the results of that debate to provide recommendations for Congress and the President to consider as they work to achieve high quality, affordable health care. Working Group members were named February 28, 2005. The recommendations released today are the result of the Working Group’s multi-phased dialogue over the past 19 months.
- View the text of this law (Public Law 108-173, Sec. 1014) at www.citizenshealthcare.gov/about/law.php.
What was the mission of the Citizens’ Health Care Working Group?
The Working Group is charged in MMA, Sect. 1014 to:
- Provide for a nationwide public debate about improving the health care system to provide every American with the ability to obtain quality, affordable health care coverage.
- Based on this debate, develop recommendations for Congress and the President regarding how to make health care that works for all Americans.
What is the relationship between AHRQ and the Citizens’ Health Care Working Group?
The Secretary of Health and Human Services was charged by MMA, Sect. 1014 to establish the Working Group, acting through the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). AHRQ staff provided administrative and technical support to establish the Working Group and enable its continuing operations. The Working Group’s funds, although administered by AHRQ, are not part of the AHRQ budget.
Who are the Citizens’ Health Care Working Group members?
By law, 14 members were selected by the Comptroller General of the U.S. Read members’ information at www.citizenshealthcare.gov/about/members.php.
The Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) serves as the 15th member, as required by MMA, Sect. 1014. The Secretary neither participated in the development of the Working Group’s recommendations nor has he endorsed them. When referred to HHS for review, he will carefully consider them and take appropriate action.
How were the members of the Citizens’ Health Care Working Group selected?
As set forth in MMA, Sec. 1014, the Working Group members were selected by the Comptroller General of the U.S. from among more than 530 applicants. Selections were announced Feb. 28, 2005. See www.citizenshealthcare.gov/about/about.php for further information.
What questions did the statute require the Citizens’ Health Care Working Group to seek answers to?
The Working Group, as required by Congress in MMA, Sec. 1014, asked citizens to give their answers to four vital questions:
- What health care benefits and services should be provided?
- How does the American public want health care delivered?
- How should health care coverage be financed?
- What trade-offs are the American public willing to make in either benefits or financing to ensure access to affordable, high-quality health care coverage and services?
What activities was the Citizens’ Health Care Working Group required to pursue and what products must it generate?
The process, as stipulated by the statute (MMA, Sec. 1014):
- Hold hearings to examine and gather expert opinion on a list of subjects listed in the statute. Hearings were held between April and September 2005. (Summaries, transcripts, and presentations used at these hearings are located at www.citizenshealthcare.gov/resources/read_rm.php)
- Prepare and make available The Health Report to the American People. Released in October 2005, it is posted at www.citizenshealthcare.gov/healthreport/healthreport.php. An updated version of this report was issued with the Working Group's final recommendations.
- Hold health care community meetings throughout the United States. These meetings were completed in May 2006. Find more information at www.citizenshealthcare.gov/community/overview.php.
- Release an interim set of recommendations, followed by a 90-day public comment period. Read the Interim Recommendations, issued June 2, 2006, at www.citizenshealthcare.gov/recommendations/recsover.php,
- Submit recommendations to Congress and the President. Final Recommendations are scheduled for release September 25, 2006.
Why were hearings an integral part of the Citizens’ Health Care Working Group's responsibilities?
THearings were required by statute (MMA, Sect. 1014) to provide input to The Health Report to the American People. They allowed the Working Group to hear about innovative approaches in the private and public sector regarding cost containment, quality enhancement, coverage expansion, and improved access as well as topics such as rural health, end of life issues, and mental health.
Presenters at hearings included citizens, providers, purchasers, regulators, experts, policymakers, and health services and health policy researchers.
What information did the law require in The Health Report to the American People?
The statute (MMA, Sect. 1014) directed that a number of subjects be addressed in The Health Report to the American People - including:
- Health care and related services that may be used by individuals throughout their life spans.
- Cost of health care services and their medical effectiveness in providing better quality of care for different age groups.
- Source of coverage and payment, including reimbursement, for health care services.
- Reasons people are uninsured or underinsured and the cost to taxpayers, purchasers of health services, and communities when Americans are uninsured or underinsured.
- Impact on health care outcomes and costs when individuals are treated in all stages of disease.
- Health care cost containment strategies.
- Information on health care needs that need to be addressed.
- Examples of community strategies to provide health care coverage or access.
- Information on geographic-specific issues relating to health care.
- Information concerning the cost of care in different settings, including institutional-based care and home and community-based care.
- Summary of ways to finance health care coverage.
- Role of technology in providing future health care including ways to support the information needs of patients and providers.
When and where were Community Meetings held by the Citizens’ Health Care Working Group?
Citizens’ Health Care Working Group held 31 Community Meetings in 28 states between January and May 2006 (see Appendix A of the Interim Recommendations at www.citizenshealthcare.gov/recommendations/appendix_a.php for a complete list). These meetings ranged in size from about 35 to approximately 500 participants, with at least one Working Group member attending.
How were the Citizens’ Health Care Working Group’s
Community Meetings structured?
Meetings were of varying lengths and were led by professional meeting facilitators. Each used discussion formats based on the four questions posed in the legislation creating the Working Group. Additional meetings were held on particular topics including mental health, end of life issues, and Native American concerns.
Discussion guides and other background materials developed for the meetings were based on the analysis of issues confronting the American health care system presented in the Working Group’s publication, The Health Report to the American People, with some updated facts and figures.
How were audiences attracted to the Citizens’ Health Care Working Group’s Community Meetings?
Audiences were attracted to community meetings by outreach through earned and paid media, involvement of national and local organizations, associations, and other groups, and the participation of various leaders and government officials at the local, state and national level. Data and reports for completed meetings may be found at www.citizenshealthcare.gov/community/mtng_files/complete.php.
What happened after the Citizens’ Health Care Working Group’s Community Meetings?
Following the community meetings, the Working Group prepared and made
available to the public an interim set of recommendations on health
care coverage and ways to improve and strengthen the health care system,
drawing on information and preferences expressed at the community meetings.
The law (MMA, Sect. 1014) required a 90-day public comment period following
release of this document. That period began June 2, 2006 with the release
of the Interim
Recommendations.
What happened after the public comment period on the Citizens’ Health Care Working Group’s Interim Recommendations?
No later than 120 days after the end of the public comment period, the Working Group must submit a final set of recommendations to Congress and the President.
Final
Recommendations were released September 29, 2006.
What will happen after the Citizens’ Health Care Working Group issues its Final Recommendations?
The President has 45 days to submit a report to Congress containing additional views and comments on the recommendations, as well as recommendations for legislative and administrative action that the President deems appropriate.
The statute (MMA, Sect. 1014) provides that, no more than 45 days
after receiving this report, each Committee of Jurisdiction of Congress
shall hold at least one hearing on the final recommendations of the
Working Group and the President's report.
What Congressional committees are required to hold hearings on the Citizens’ Health Care Working Group’s Final Recommendations?
The statute (MMA, Sect. 1014) provides that the following Committees of Jurisdiction of Congress shall hold hearings on the final recommendations.
- U. S. Senate, Committee on Finance
- U. S. Senate, Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
- U. S. House of Representatives, Committee on Ways and Means
- U. S. House of Representatives, Committee on Energy and Commerce
- U. S. House of Representatives, Committee on Education and the Workforce.
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