2010 Technical Review Panel on the Medicare Trustees Report

The Technical Review Panel on the Medicare Trustees Report was established by the Department of Health and Human Services in 2010 to review the assumptions and methods underlying the Medicare Trust Funds (Hospital Insurance and Supplementary Medical Insurance) annual reports to Congress. The Panel, which has nine members, will review the Medicare assumptions, projection methodology, long-range growth assumptions, and related matters used to develop the annual reports. A final report will be completed in 2011. The Panel complies with the Federal Advisory Committee Act.

The Committee’s duties shall be to advise the Secretary in carrying out her role as a trustee of the Medicare Trust Funds. Specifically those duties shall include, but not be limited to, a review of the following six topics:

1. Appropriate bases for setting long-range Medicare per-beneficiary expenditure growth assumptions and associated issues such as the determination of sustainable shares of health spending
2. The sustainability of key Medicare cost growth factors under current law
3. Current assumptions regarding the long-term rate of growth in medical expenditures and/or changes in utilization of care
4. Current and alternate projection methodologies
5. Long-range growth assumptions for HI and SMI
6. Recommendations for areas of future research to improve the long term projection methods, such as incorporating trends in health status

The Committee may also examine other methodological issues identified by the Committee members.

Meetings

1. November 23, 2010, from 9:30 am to 5:00 pm at Hubert H. Humphrey Building, 200 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20201, Room 738G.  (Meeting Notice in Federal Register — PDF - 2 pages)
2. December 13, 2010, from 9:30 am to 5 pm and December 14, 2010, from 8:30 am to 1 pm, e.t. at HHS Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services headquarters located at 7500 Security Blvd., Baltimore, MD 21244, Conference Room B (Meeting Notice in Federal Register — PDF - 2 pages)
3. January 10, 2011, from 9 am to 6 pm, e.t. and January 28, 2011, 9:30 am to 5 pm, e.t. at HHS headquarters, 200 Independence Ave, SW, Washington, DC 20201, Room 705A.  (Meeting Notice in Federal Register — PDF - 1 page)
4. February 17, 2011, from 9 am to 6 pm, e.t. at HHS headquarters, 200 Independence Ave, SW, Washington, DC 20201.  (Meeting Notice in Federal Register — PDF - 1 page)

Panel Charter

Federal Register notice establishing the panel and call for nominations (in PDF format - 2 pages)

Members of the 2010 Technical Review Panel on the Medicare Trustees Reports

• Joseph Newhouse, the John D. MacArthur Professor of Health Policy and Management at Harvard University (Co-chair)
• John Bertko, Actuary, F.S.A., MAAA (co-chair)
• Michael Chernew, Professor, Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard University
• Cori Uccello, Senior Health Fellow, American Academy of Actuaries
• Barry Bosworth, Senior Fellow, Economic Studies Program, Brookings Institution
• Geoffrey Sandler, Senior Actuary, Health Policy, Aetna
• Louise Sheiner, Senior Economist, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
• John Cookson, Principal Actuary, Milliman
• Uwe Reinhardt, James Madison Professor of Political Economy and Professor of Economics, Princeton University

Reports

• Interim Report, February 2011 (PDF version, 5 pages)

Where to?

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Last updated:  04/01/2011