This document proposes the creation of a Federal Performance Architecture (FPA) to help coordinate and guide the numerous changes to the US healthcare system proposed in the Affordable Care Act. The FPA would apply interdisciplinary scientific methods and draw on data from emerging health IT infrastructures to provide evidence on standards of care, prevention strategies, and patient-centered informatics. This evidence could then help ensure improvements in healthcare quality, access, and costs. The FPA would analyze initiatives' effects on outcomes, access, and costs. It would also provide population-based evidence and demographic analyses to better tailor services and policies. Establishing such a coordinating framework could sustainably benefit research, policies, and health systems both nationally and globally