December 7, 2009

Dear Senators:

On behalf of the National Partnership for Women & Families, I am pleased to endorse
your amendment to further improve the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
(PPAC) with provisions to improve the quality of care patients receive, contain costs, and
eliminate waste from our health care system.

The National Partnership is working to ensure that new models of payment and care
delivery deliver on their promise of better coordinated, more comprehensive, patient-
centered care – especially to vulnerable populations, older adults, and individuals with
multiple chronic conditions. The PPAC Act begins to lay the groundwork with proposals
to preserve and protect Medicare, enhance the quality of provider performance, and
contain costs. Your amendment provides additional, and critically needed, improvements
to these proposals in the following key ways:

• Strengthening Medicare’s ability to serve as a market leader. The PPAC Act

gives Medicare important tools to start paying for health care based on value and
better health outcomes rather than paying based on the number of services or tests
performed. Your amendment allows for more rapid-cycle implementation of
programs that work, broadens provider accountability, and helps ensure
beneficiaries receive higher quality care. We particularly appreciate your
proposal to improve the Physician Quality Reporting system by allowing
physicians to receive incentives to participate in Maintenance of Certification
programs that include surveys of patient experience of care.

• Engaging with private sector to contain costs and reform health care delivery.
Your amendment provides critical authority for Medicare and Medicaid to partner
with the private sector to implement new models of payment and care delivery.
We particularly applaud the provision allowing for clear, consumer-friendly
comparisons of health plan quality and cost.

• Reducing premium increases by cutting waste. We appreciate your proposals to

simplify the electronic exchange of information within the health care system and
crack down on Medicare fraud.

1875 connecticut avenue, nw ~ suite 650 ~ washington, dc 20009 ~ phone: 202.986.2600 ~ fax:
202.986.2539
email: info@nationalpartnership.org ~ web: www.nationalpartnership.org
 2

We thank you for your efforts to improve our health care system in a way that puts
consumers and patients first. We are pleased to endorse your amendment and look
forward to its adoption.

Sincerely,

Debra L. Ness
President

Cc:
Senator Mark Warner
Senator Jeff Merkley
Senator Mark Begich
Senator Mark Udall
Senator Tom Udall
Senator Michael Bennet
Senator Jeanne Shaheen
Senator Roland Burris
Senator Paul Kirk
Senator Edward Kaufman
Senator Kay Hagan