[Federal Register: April 29, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 82)]
[Notices]
[Page 22315]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr29ap05-44]
[[Page 22315]]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Meeting of the Citizens' Health Care Working Group
AGENCY: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
ACTION: Notice of public meeting.
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SUMMARY: In accordance with section 10(a) of the Federal Advisory
Committee Act, this notice announces the first meeting of the Citizens'
Health Care Working Group mandated by section 1014 of the Medicare
Modernization Act.
DATES: The meeting will be held on Wednesday, May 11 and Thursday, May
12, 2005 from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Friday, May 13, 2005 from 8:30
a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held at the Hampton Inn & Suites Reagan
National Airport, 2000 Jefferson Davis Highway, Arlington, Virginia.
The meeting is open to the public.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ken Cohen, Citizens' Health Care
Working Group, at (301) 443-1489 or citizenshealth@ahrq.gov. If sign
language interpretation or other reasonable accommodation for a
disability is needed, please contact Mr. Donald L. Inniss, Director,
Office of Equal Employment Opportunity Program, Program Support Center,
on (301) 443-1144 no later than May 2, 2005.
The agenda and roster will be available on the Citizens' Health
Care Working Group Web site, http://www.citizenshealth.ahrq.gov, which will be
operational in early May. When a transcription of the Working Group's
April 11 and 12 meeting is completed, it will be made available on the
website.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 1014 of Public Law 108-173, the
Medicare Modernization Act (42 U.S.C. 299 note) directs the Secretary
of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), acting through
the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, to establish a
Citizens' Health Care Working Group (Working Group). The statute
charges the Working Group to: (1) Identify options for changing our
health care system so that every American has the ability to obtain
quality, affordable health care coverage; (2) provide for a nationwide
public debate about improving the health care system; and (3) submit
their recommendations to the President and the Congress.
The Citizens' Health Care Working Group is composed of 15 members:
the Secretary of DHHS is designated as a member by the statute and the
Comptroller General of the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO)
is directed to appoint the remaining 14 members. The Comptroller
General announced the 14 appointments on February 28, 2005. A list of
the Working Group members is available on the GAO Web site (http://www.gao.gov.
).
Agenda
This meeting will include three components: (1) Briefings for the
Working Group on aspects of the health care system that the statute
requires then to address; (2) hearings on two broad topics, the
uninsured and drivers of health care costs; and (3) a portion of each
day will be devoted to ongoing Working Group business.
The briefings will address the following topics: overview of the
health care system, public insurance programs (Medicare, Medicaid, and
State Childrens' Health Insurance Program), the private health
insurance market, the uninsured, and drivers of health care costs.
The hearings portion of the meeting is expected to address the
following issues: public and private sector initiatives to expand
health insurance coverage and public or private sector initiatives to
control costs.
The business portions of the meeting on each day will include
discussions of future field hearings, the required Report of the
American People, and begin the discussion of approaches for conducting
the community meetings required by the statute.
The official agenda will be available on the Working Group's
website.
Submission of Written Information
Individuals or organizations wishing to provide written information
for consideration by the Working Group should submit information
electronically to citizenshealth@ahrq.gov. Targeted but separate
submissions that address the following topics are encouraged: (1) The
issues that will be addressed to the May meeting; (2) the issues that
the statute requires the Report to the American People to address; (3)
examples of innovative public or private sector initiatives to address
the issues that the statute requires the hearings or Report to address;
or (4) approaches that the Working Group should consider in developing
the strategies and framework for the community meetings envisioned in
the statute. If an individual or organization wishes to address more
than one of these topics, separate submissions are requested. Because
all electronic submissions will be posted on the Working Group web
site, separate submissions will facilitate review of ideas submitted on
each topic by the Working Group and the public.
Dated: April 25, 2005.
Carolyn M. Clancy,
Director.
[FR Doc. 05-8533 Filed 4-28-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4160-90-M