MSRS, as the plan sponsor of the Health Care Savings Plan (HCSP), is responsible for paying the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) fee and filing IRS form 720.

The fee, which must be paid once a year by July 31, is based on the average number of lives covered under the HCSP. MSRS pays the fee from the plan sponsor account, which is funded by administrative fees deducted from participant accounts.The PCORI fee has no impact on the participant’s administrative fee, which is 0.65% of the account balance.

The Affordable Care Act imposes the PCORI fee on issuers of specified health insurance policies and plan sponsors of applicable self-insured health plans.

The fee was initially scheduled to terminate in 2019. However, the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020 signed into law on Dec 20, 2019, extended the fee for an additional 10 years.