Michael Gomes's blog

The implementation train for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) continues to pick- up speed with a number of important implementation dates in 2012. 

Keeping up with the pace can be challenging. To assist, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) offers  a website that helps track the major reform efforts, titled “What’s Changing and When.” Also useful is an online article posted by the White House that gives a year-by-year overview of the PPACA timeline.    

Here’s a snapshot of some 2012 milestones:

Accountable Care Organizations

Buried in the thousands of pages of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) is Section 1181, which authorized the establishment of the Patient Center for Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), an independent, non-profit organization charged with “evaluating and comparing health outcomes and the clinical effectiveness, risks, and benefits of medical treatments, services, procedures, drugs, and other strategies or items that treat, manage, diagnose, or prevent illness or injury.”

The United States Supreme Court will hear oral arguments regarding the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) from March 26 through 28of 2012, according to the New York Times and several other media services. The amount of time set aside for the hearings, over three days, signals the gravity and importance of the issue, and is without precedent in modern times. 

The U.S.

Four recent surveys confirm the notion that the majority of employers will continue to offer employer-sponsored health benefits in 2012 and beyond. The national surveys, conducted by Mercer, Towers Watson Health Care, GfK and Kaiser Family Foundation/Health Research & Educational Trust, yielded fairly consistent results that indicate employers overall continue to view their health benefits plans as a key component of the employee benefit offerings. The survey feedback also confirms that few employers plan to terminate their health benefit plans when state health insurance exchanges, mandated by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), become operational in the fall of 2013.  

Mercer Study