Health Reform GPS: Navigating Implementation

Health Reform GPS is a joint project of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Hirsh Health Law and Policy Program of the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services. With passage of H. R. 3590, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, and its companion bill H.R. 4872, the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, the major work of turning law into real change begins. Implementing any law is a complex policymaking process in its own right. Like the passage of a statute, the process of implementation is one in which government agencies, acting under ongoing Congressional oversight, interpret the law and more clearly define the policies that will guide the health care system. In doing so, they are guided by the major health system stakeholders such as patients and consumers, employers and unions, health insurers, and health care providers.

This site has been designed to present unbiased information about the health reform legislation while also setting forth implementation issues that may arise from a full range of stakeholder views on any particular topic. This project, specifically designed to help people understand the legislation and its implementation, will be particularly useful to federal and state legislative and public agency staff, private organizations and interest groups involved in implementation, health policy researchers, and the press.