PCORI? Here Comes the Latest Washington Acronym to Learn! 

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By Lyle Dennis, Cavarocchi - Ruscio - Dennis Associates, LLC, Consultants to AASLD

Washington is well known for its acronyms and its shortened forms of referring to offices. Some are second nature to Association members, like NIDDK or CDC. Others are often surprising, like Washington people not referring to the Secretary of Defense (he is the SecDef). But, now there is a new one to learn that you will likely be hearing more about in the future.

PCORI is the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, a non-profit, federally chartered corporation that will manage the government’s investment in comparative effectiveness research (CER). The Institute was created by the recently-enacted Patient Protection and Affordable Care (PPACA) legislation. While it uses the word “institute” in its title, PCORI is, in fact, not part of the National Institutes of Health and is not located within any existing governmental structure.

Under the law, PCORI is required, however, to give preference to the NIH, as well as the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) in the awarding of funds for CER. In addition, both NIH and AHRQ have existing research projects underway and there is no provision in law that would prevent them from doing more. But, clearly PCORI is going to emerge as the center of CER research.

The Comptroller General of the United States, who is the administrator of the Government Accountability Office (GAO) is charged with appointing the nominees to the Board of Governors of PCORI. On May 7, 2010, in an announcement in the Federal Register, the Comptroller General requested letters of nomination for persons to serve on the Board. He is required to make the appointments within six months of the enactment of the law, or by September 23 of this year.

The announcement indicated that letters of nomination and resumes should be submitted by June 30, 2010, to ensure that they are reviewed in a timely manner. In a subsequent notice on May 14, 2010, changes were made to the addresses for submission. Nomination letters and resumes can be sent to either PCORI@gao.gov or to GAO Health Care, ATTN: PCOR Institute Board of Governors, 441 G Street, NW, Washington, DC 20548.

Assuming the Board of Governors is in place by the end of September, it will need to adopt a number of policies quickly to begin to implement the new law. While the funds for the research will be automatically available through a small tap on the Medicare Part A Trust Fund, the mechanisms for moving the money into the research field still need to be created. 

AASLD will be following developments closely in this area. The Public Policy Committee has made it a priority area for monitoring and action in the coming months.

This electronic newsletter is a bi-weekly publication of AASLD and replaces the former bi-monthly print newsletter and weekly e-news. Members are welcome to submit articles and may send suggestions to aharan@aasld.org.