Great news coming out of Washington, DC last week. Andrew Imparato, the President and CEO of the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), has been appointed to the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) Board of Governors.
Here’s the relevant info from the AAPD press release:
WASHINGTON, DC – September 23, 2010 – The American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), the country’s largest cross-disability membership organization, is pleased to announce the appointment of Andrew Imparato, AAPD’s President and CEO to the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) Board of Governors.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 established PCORI as a non-profit organization to assist patients, clinicians, purchasers, and policy-makers in making informed health decisions by carrying out research projects that provide quality, relevant evidence on how diseases, disorders, and other health conditions can effectively and appropriately be prevented, diagnosed, treated, monitored, and managed. The Patient Protection Act directs the Comptroller General to appoint 19 of the 21 members of the PCORI Board of Governors. Today, PCORI announced AAPD’s President and CEO, Andrew Imparato, is appointed as one of the inaugural PCORI Board Members. Imparato will be part of this team, charged with reviewing the research given to the government regarding healthcare reforms and implementation.
Needless to say, just about every aspect of health care reform has been debated exhaustively – and the PCORI is no different. The views on this board range from those who have suggestions about how they should do their work to those who put their concerns in terms of outright paranoia.
Since PCORI will be looking at “effectiveness” in medical treatments, it does bear watching just how “effectiveness” is defined. Is “effectiveness” to be defined in terms of how well a given treatment works? Or will “effectiveness” rely in part on judging in certain treatments aren’t merited for certain people because they are too old or too disabled to justify the expense?
Knowing that Andy Imparato is part of the process provides some comfort. He was general counsel and director of policy for the National Council on Disability (NCD) during the time the Council published its paper opposing legalization of assisted suicide. Since then, he – and AAPD – have been at the forefront of advocacy againts genetic bias in employment, “futile care” cases, medical discrimination against people with disabilities and many other areas that overlap with NDY.
We at NDY congratulate Andy Imparato and thank him for his long-term advocacy and commitment to safeguarding the rights of people with disabilities. –Stephen Drake