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Brown ArrowComparative Effectiveness Research (CER)

Comparative effectiveness research is the conduct and synthesis of systematic research comparing different interventions and strategies to prevent, diagnose, treat and monitor health conditions. The purpose of this research is to inform patients, providers, and decision-makers, responding to their expressed needs, about which interventions are most effective for which patients under specific circumstances. To provide this information, comparative effectiveness research must assess a comprehensive array of health-related outcomes for diverse patient populations…[Internet.] Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research, definition; [cited 28 July 2010].

Access specialized searches for published research—PubMed, and research still in progress, HSRProj, and ClinicalTrials.gov—to help inform investigations of comparative effectiveness.

Additional information related to CER may be found in the Evidence-Based Practice/Health Technology Assessment Main Topic.

Data, Tools, and Statistics

  • Adverse Event Reporting System (AERS) - (Food and Drug Administration (FDA) U.S.)  - Computerized information database designed to support the FDA's post-marketing safety surveillance program for all approved drug and therapeutic biologic products.
  • Alcohol Epidemiologic Data Directory - (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA))  - Current listing of surveys and other relevant data suitable for epidemiologic research on alcohol.
  • Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) - (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS))  - The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is a branch of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. CMS is the federal agency which administers Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children's Health Insurance Program. Provides information for health professionals, regional governments, and consumers.
  • CER Database - (National Patient Advocate Foundation (NPAF) US)  - Compiles comparative studies funded by NIH and AHRQ. The majority of these reviews are funded through the $1.1 billion in CER funding allocated by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The database is accessible from the NPAF's website.
  • CER Inventory - (Partnership to Improve Patient Care (PIPC) US)  - Database intended to provide an inventory of comparative effectiveness research projects currently being funded by agencies within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), with the $1.1 billion dollars for comparative effectiveness research allocated in the 2009 stimulus legislation and projects being funded by the Effective Health Care Program at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
  • CER Resources - (University of California San Francisco (UCSF))  - This website provides access to CER datasets, CER presentations, and CER-related links.
  • ClinicalTrials.gov - (National Library of Medicine (NLM) U.S.)  - Registry of federally and privately supported clinical trials conducted in the United States and around the world.
  • Comparative Effectiveness Research Funding - (Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) U.S.)  - Information on ARRA, links to listening sessions on public comment on CER, and links to research plans from NIH, AHRQ, and the Office of the Secretary.
  • Comparative Effectiveness Research Public Use Data Pilot Project - Chronic Conditions - (IMPAQ International LLC US)  - As part of the Comparative Effectiveness Research (CER) Public Use Data Pilot Project, IMPAQ completed the CMS 2008 Chronic Conditions Public Use File (PUF). This PUF is an aggregated file in which each record is a profile or cell defined by the characteristics of Medicare beneficiaries. A profile is defined by all combinations of age category, gender, various chronic conditions, and dual-eligibility status of the beneficiaries. For each profile many claim related variables are provided in the form of averages.
  • Drug Approvals and Databases - (Food and Drug Administration (FDA) U.S.)  - Links to various FDA databases, i.e., Adverse Event Reporting post-marketing safety surveillance program, Orange Book, Clinical Investigator Inspection List, Bioresearch Monitoring Information System, Dissolution Methods, etc.
  • Health Indicators Warehouse (HIW) - (Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) U.S.)  - The Health Indicators Warehouse serves as the data hub for the HHS Community Health Data Initiative by providing a single source for national, state, and community health indicators.
  • Health System Measurement Project - (Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) U.S.)  - This web tool enables the viewing of data on a given topical area from multiple sources, comparing trends across measures and national trends with those at the state and regional level. For example, an individual could use the Measurement Project to monitor the percentage of people who have a specific source of ongoing medical care or track avoidable hospitalizations for adults and children by region or ethnic group.
  • HSRProj - (National Library of Medicine, National Information Center on Health Services Research and Health Care Technology)  - Database of ongoing health services research projects. Search for studies relating to access, cost, and quality of health care, including patient outcomes, health services research methods, etc.
  • HSRR (Health Services and Sciences Research Resources) - (National Library of Medicine, National Information Center on Health Services Research and Health Care Technology)  - HSRR is a searchable database of information about research datasets, instruments/indices and software. Users may examine and compare characteristics of some of the resources employed in Health Services Research, the Behavioral and Social Sciences and Public Health. The database includes brief descriptions of research resources and links to PubMed. It also includes URLs of providers for additional information or access to the resources. HSRR is not a repository of the actual resources.
  • NIH RePORTER (RePORT Expenditures & Results) - (National Institutes of Health (NIH))  - The RePORT (Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tools) website provides access to a variety of reporting tools, reports, data, and analyses of NIH research activities. One of the tools available on the RePORT site is the RePORTER (RePORT Expenditures and Results) module. RePORTER is an electronic tool that allows users to search a repository of NIH-funded research projects and access publications and patents resulting from NIH funding.
  • NLM Resources for Informing Comparative Effectiveness - (National Library of Medicine, National Information Center on Health Services Research and Health Care Technology)  - Provides specialized searches of published research - PubMed - and research still in progress - HSRProj, and ClinicalTrials.gov - to help inform investigations of comparative effectiveness.
  • Prevention, Wellness, & Comparing Providers: Healthcare.Gov - (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) U.S., Hospital Quality Alliance US)  - This tool provides a listing of U.S. hospitals, including hospital demographics (location, hospital type) and 44 quality measures. Hospital Compare includes information on some Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers.
  • PubMed Health - (National Library of Medicine (NLM) U.S.)  - PubMed Health is a consumer health Web site produced by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), a division of the National Library of Medicine (NLM) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). PubMed Health provides up-to-date information on diseases, conditions, injuries, drugs, supplements, treatment options, and healthy living, with a special focus on comparative effectiveness research, in particular that research which evaluates the available evidence of the benefits and harms of different treatment options for different groups of people.
  • VA HSR&D Emerging Evidence - (Health Services Research and Development Service, Veterans Administration (HSR&D))  - Emerging Evidence periodically presents results on a single subject gleaned from the Final Reports of completed VA HSR&D studies. Access various results.
  • Why Not the Best? Comparative Health Care Performance Data - (Commonwealth Fund)  - Free resource for health care professionals interested in tracking performance on various measures of health care quality. It enables organizations to compare their performance against that of peer organizations, against a range of benchmarks, and over time. Case studies and improvement tools spotlight successful improvement strategies of the nation's top performers.

Grants, Funding, and Fellowships

  • AHRQ Comparative Effectiveness Research ARRA Implementation Plan images/pdf.gif icon - (Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) U.S.)  - Describes how AHRQ is using its $300 million in Recovery Act funds to expand and broaden pre-existing comparative effectiveness research activities initiated at the Agency in response to Section 1013 of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003.
  • Comparative Effectiveness Research Funding - (Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) U.S.)  - Information on ARRA, links to listening sessions on public comment on CER, and links to research plans from NIH, AHRQ, and the Office of the Secretary.
  • Federal Training Programs in Comparative Effectiveness Research - (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ))  - Appendix B of a 2010 White Paper, Establishing an AHRQ Learning Collaborative, lists CER Federal Training Program. As background on the white paper, at the 2010 National Research Service Award (NRSA) meeting, directors of T32 training programs funded by AHRQ discussed the importance of sharing knowledge and working more closely together. To gain a better understanding of the unique needs, preferences, and challenges of AHRQ training programs with respect to achieving these goals, a brief initial survey involving 10 of the 18 training programs was conducted. To explore these themes in more detail, 15 semi-structured interviews were conducted (five each with program directors and pre- and postdoctoral trainees). Additionally, interviews were conducted with individuals with expertise in establishing and working with collaboratives. These experts represented: AcademyHealth, AHRQ, The Institute for Healthcare Improvement, the NEWMEDS Project, and the PCMH/MU (Patient-Centered Medical Home/Meaningful Use) Collaborative. Applying a conceptual framework developed from a literature review of collective learning, themes were identified and consolidated as they emerged.
  • NIH RePORTER (RePORT Expenditures & Results) - (National Institutes of Health (NIH))  - The RePORT (Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tools) website provides access to a variety of reporting tools, reports, data, and analyses of NIH research activities. One of the tools available on the RePORT site is the RePORTER (RePORT Expenditures and Results) module. RePORTER is an electronic tool that allows users to search a repository of NIH-funded research projects and access publications and patents resulting from NIH funding.
  • PCORI Patient-Researcher Matching Challenge - (Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) US)  - The Matching Challenge is a competition to create a system for connecting healthcare researchers and patient partners to advance patient-centered comparative effectiveness research.
  • SPICE Training Program: Strengthening Professionals In Comparative Effectiveness - (University of Rochester Medical Center, Clinical & Translational Science Institute (CTSI) US)  - Training opportunity for postdoctoral and clinical fellows, residents, and faculty. The goal of this program is to increase the number of researchers qualified to oversee or conduct comparative effectiveness research (CER).

Guidelines, Journals, Other (Publications/Videos)

  • Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's Process for Awarding Recovery Act Funds and Disseminating Results images/pdf.gif icon - (Government Accountability Office (GAO) US)  - According to AHRQ officials, the agency plans to disseminate the results of Recovery Act-funded CER using a range of existing mechanisms. These mechanisms include written products, training programs, social media tools, and AHRQ's website. AHRQ is also developing additional strategies to disseminate CER results. AHRQ awarded four contracts using Recovery Act funds totaling approximately $42.3 million to promote innovative approaches for disseminating CER results. A variety of efforts are conducted under these contracts, including efforts to educate clinicians and develop regional dissemination offices.
  • AHRQ Comparative Effectiveness Research ARRA Implementation Plan images/pdf.gif icon - (Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) U.S.)  - Describes how AHRQ is using its $300 million in Recovery Act funds to expand and broaden pre-existing comparative effectiveness research activities initiated at the Agency in response to Section 1013 of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003.
  • Building Health Reform's Research Arm - (Kaiser Health News (KHN) US)  - This is a January 9, 2012 interview with Dr. Anne Beal, the number two person at the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute.
  • Center on Health Care Effectiveness - (Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.)  - Resource for policymakers, the public, and other stakeholders, offering broad-based expertise to provide objective evidence to inform today's difficult health care decisions. Link to reports, publications, webinars.
  • CER Newsfeed - (National Pharmaceutical Council (NPC) US)  - Produced by the National Pharmaceutical Council, CER Newsfeed provides daily updates and information on CER.
  • Clinical Practice Guidelines We Can Trust - (Institute of Medicine (IOM))  - Eight standards are promoted in this report, including recommendations for establishing transparency in the practice, managing conflict of interest, external review, and group composition development.
  • Comparative Effectiveness News - (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ))  - Quarterly newsletter produced by the AHRQ Effective Health Care Program, covering the Program's recent activities and new research findings.
  • Comparative Effectiveness Research and Payers - (National Pharmaceutical Council (NPC) US)  - During the recent Drug Information Association Annual Meeting, the National Pharmaceutical Council caught up with several health care experts to ask their thoughts on how payers are using comparative effectiveness research (CER). Visitors can view video interviews from this link.
  • ECRI Institute's 15th Annual Conference Report: Key Questions and Issues - (ECRI Institute US)  - On October 17 and 18, 2007, ECRI Institute's 15th Annual Conference: Comparative Effectiveness of Health Interventions: Strategies to Change Policy and Practice brought together more than 200 representatives from state and federal government agencies, device manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies, provider organizations, health plans and insurers for a dialogue with 30 of the nation's leading health policy experts and stakeholders.
  • EDM (Electronic Data Methods) Forum Publications - (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ))  - The EDM Forum has produced briefs and reports examining the use of electronic clinical data for comparative effectiveness research (CER), patient-centered outcomes research (PCOR) and quality improvement (QI) that can lead to meaningful improvements in patient outcomes.
  • Evidence-based Synthesis Program - (Health Services Research and Development Service, Veterans Administration (HSR&D))  - The Evidence-based Synthesis Program (ESP) was established to provide timely and accurate syntheses of targeted health care topics of particular importance to VA managers and policy makers and to disseminate these reports broadly throughout VA. Access published reports as well as reports in progress.
  • GRACE Principles on CER - (National Pharmaceutical Council (NPC) US)  - The GRACE Principles provide high-level guidance to decision-makers to help them evaluate the quality of observational studies comparing the effectiveness of various medical products and services. The GRACE initiative developed a core set of good practice principles to address the design, conduct, analysis, and reporting of observational studies of comparative effectiveness. In addition, a checklist to assess observational CER quality and usefulness for decision-making is under development.
  • Impact Case Studies and Knowledge Transfer Case Studies: Comparative Effectiveness - (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ))  - Link to comparative effectiveness portfolios designed to provide health care decisionmakers--including patients, clinicians, purchasers, and policymakers-with up-to-date, evidence-based information about their treatment options to make informed health care decisions.
  • Initial National Priorities for Comparative Effectiveness Research - (Institute of Medicine (IOM))  - Congress, in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009, tasked the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to recommend national priorities for research questions to be addressed by CER and supported by ARRA funds. These are the 100 priority topics for comparative effectiveness research. The list provides a starting point for what should be a sustained effort to conduct comparative effectiveness research. As this research initiative progresses, the priorities will evolve as well.
  • ISPOR Good Outcomes Research Practices & Issues Index - (International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) US)  - Consensus documents on key outcomes research methods. ISPOR's role as a scientific educational organization is to assist in the development and dissemination of good practices in health outcomes research
  • Journal of Comparative Effectiveness Research (Future Medicine) - (Future Medicine, Ltd UK)  - Articles published in Journal of Comparative Effectiveness Research cover key areas such as: studies of effectiveness or comparative effectiveness yielding new findings relating to diagnostics, therapeutics, surgical procedures, or other healthcare services or options; systematic reviews of available evidence relating to the pros and cons of healthcare options for specific patient groups including comparative safety; perspectives and debate relating to the performance of comparative effectiveness studies and best practice issues; commentary on both patient-relevant outcomes and economic implications; direct 'head-to-head' comparisons of available diagnostic and therapeutic options - evaluating clinical alternatives with current standard of care; clinical trial commentaries - evaluating and interpreting the findings of recently completed CER trials as well as presenting the design and rationale of newly commenced studies; and pharmacoeconomic studies, health economics and outcomes research.
  • Journal of Comparative Effectiveness Research (open access) - (Dove Medical Press Ltd. UK)  - This is an international, peer-reviewed open access journal focusing on comparative effectiveness of health care including preventative health care strategies, diagnostic strategies, diagnostic technology, medical devices, drugs, medical technology, health systems and organization.
  • Knowing What Works in Health Care: A Roadmap for the Nation - (Institute of Medicine (IOM))  - Looks at the three fundamental health care issues in the United States--setting priorities for evidence assessment, assessing evidence (systematic review), and developing evidence-based clinical practice guidelines--and how each of these contributes to the end goal of effective, practical health care systems. Also links to podcast.
  • Methods Guide for Comparative Effectiveness Reviews - (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ))  - Effectiveness and Comparative Effectiveness Reviews, systematic reviews of existing research on the effectiveness, comparative effectiveness, and comparative harms of different health care interventions, are intended to provide relevant evidence to inform real-world health care decisions for patients, providers, and policymakers. In an effort to improve the transparency, consistency, and scientific rigor of the work of the Effective Health Care (EHC) Program, through a collaborative effort, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), the Scientific Resource Center, and the Evidence-based Practice Centers (EPCs) have developed a Methods Guide for Comparative Effectiveness Reviews. We intend that these documents will serve as a resource for our EPCs as well as for other investigators interested in conducting Comparative Effectiveness Reviews.
  • PCORI Annual Report (2011) - (Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) US)  - The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) was authorized by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) of 2010 to conduct research to provide the best available evidence to help patients and those who care for them make better-informed health care decisions. This report documents PCORI's activities over a 14-month period, from January 1, 2011, through the close of the public comment period on the draft National Priorities for Research and initial Research Agenda on March 15, 2012.
  • PubMed Health - (National Library of Medicine (NLM) U.S.)  - PubMed Health is a consumer health Web site produced by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), a division of the National Library of Medicine (NLM) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). PubMed Health provides up-to-date information on diseases, conditions, injuries, drugs, supplements, treatment options, and healthy living, with a special focus on comparative effectiveness research, in particular that research which evaluates the available evidence of the benefits and harms of different treatment options for different groups of people.
  • Research Reporting Guidelines and Initiatives: By Organization - (National Library of Medicine (NLM) U.S.)  - This site provides acces to a chart listing the major biomedical research reporting guidelines that provide advice for reporting research methods and findings. The chart also includes editorial style guides for writing research reports or other publications.
  • VA HSR&D Emerging Evidence - (Health Services Research and Development Service, Veterans Administration (HSR&D))  - Emerging Evidence periodically presents results on a single subject gleaned from the Final Reports of completed VA HSR&D studies. Access various results.
  • Video: National Health Council-PCORI (February 2012) - In February 2012, the National Health Council held its annual Voluntary Health Leadership Conference in San Diego, California. Joe Selby, MD, MPH, Executive Director of the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, was interviewed by the NHC about how better information gleaned through comparative effectiveness research can lead to better health decisions.

Key Organizations/Programs

  • American Institutes of Research (AIR) - In August 2010, AHRQ awarded AIR's Health Care Section $10 million to manage the Agency's Citizens Forum on Effective Health Care. This project will serve as one of AHRQ's primary mechanisms for obtaining public input on comparative effectiveness research, and will oversee the agency's existing Effective Health Care Stakeholder Group.
  • Brookings Institution - Nonprofit public policy organization that conducts independent research and provides recommendations.
  • CDC's Prevention Research Centers - (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC))  - The Prevention Research Centers work as an interdependent network of community, academic, and public health partners to conduct prevention research and promote the wide use of practices proven to promote good health.
  • Center for Comparative Effectiveness in Genomic Medicine (CEGeM) - (University of Pennsylvania US)  - Coordinated, multidisciplinary center is the generation and synthesis of evidence to support the translation of genomic tools/markers into improvements in cancer prevention, screening, diagnosis, treatment and survivorship.
  • Center for Medical Technology Policy (CMTP) - Private, non-profit organization that provides a neutral forum in which patients, clinicians, payers, manufacturers and researchers can work together to design and implement prospective, real world studies to inform health care decisions.
  • Center on Health Care Effectiveness - (Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.)  - Resource for policymakers, the public, and other stakeholders, offering broad-based expertise to provide objective evidence to inform today's difficult health care decisions. Link to reports, publications, webinars.
  • Centers for Comparative and Health Systems Effectiveness - (University of Washington)  - Developed to facilitate multidisciplinary, high impact comparative and systems effectiveness research and implementation. The CHASE Alliance consists of UW researchers and community partners interested in comparative effectiveness research, health disparities, health system evaluation, technology assessment, patient-centered outcomes, economic evaluation, and dissemination and translation.
  • Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) - (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS))  - The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is a branch of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. CMS is the federal agency which administers Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children's Health Insurance Program. Provides information for health professionals, regional governments, and consumers.
  • Commonwealth Fund - (Commonwealth Fund)  - Established in 1918 with the broad charge to enhance the common good, the mission of The Commonwealth Fund is to promote a high performing health care system that achieves better access, improved quality, and greater efficiency, particularly for society's most vulnerable, including low-income people, the uninsured, minority Americans, young children, and elderly adults. This site provides access to data, surveys and numerous publications.
  • Comparative Effectiveness Research Key Function Committee - (Clinical & Translational Science Awards (CTSA) US, National Center for Research Resources, NIH)  - Builds the field of CER by creating a learning community across CTSA institutions, spurring methods development, expanding training/education, promoting community/public engagement, and application of CER findings.
  • Comparative Effectiveness Research Online Training Center - (The Ohio State University, College of Public Health US)  - These resources were developed with funding from the National Institutes of Health to provide training in Comparative Effectiveness Research methodology and application. While the IOM Priority Area for this program was Birth Outcomes, the modules were created to addresses CER methods and application more generally. There are 16 modules.
  • Comparative Effectiveness Resource Center - (ECRI Institute US)  - Educational site with access to resources ranging from national policy conference recordings to perspectives from leading experts, as well as links to position statements by stakeholder groups.
  • Drug Effectiveness Review Project (DERP) - (Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) US)  - Collaboration of the Center for Evidence-based Policy and the Oregon Evidence-based Practice Center who have joined together to produce systematic, evidence-based reviews of the comparative effectiveness and safety of drugs in many widely used drug classes, and to apply the findings to inform public policy and related activities in local settings.
  • Effective Healthcare Program - (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ))  - Funds individual researchers, research centers, and academic organizations to work together with AHRQ to produce effectiveness and comparative effectiveness research for clinicians, consumers, and policymakers.
  • Evidence-based Practice Centers (EPCs) - (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ))  - Evidence-based Practice Centers (EPCs) are top-ranking institutions where research reviews for the AHRQ Effective Health Care Program are made. EPCs are housed at 15 of the nation's top medical schools, universities, or medical centers. Access research reviews, original research reports, and summary guides.
  • Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and CER - (Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA))  - HRSA is the primary Federal agency for improving access to health care services for people who are uninsured, isolated or medically vulnerable. Multiple HRSA programs incorporate CER activities. This links to a specific example within Maternal and Child Health.
  • Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation - An independent philanthropy focusing on the major health care issues, including comparative effectiveness research, facing the nation. The Foundation is an independent voice and source of facts analysis for policymakers, the media, the health care community, and the general public.
  • The Lewin Group Center for Comparative Effectiveness Research - The Center manages, conducts, interprets, and supports the use of comparative effectiveness research (CER) to inform decisions that help achieve the most effective patient outcomes, health care policies, and deployment of health care resources.
  • National Institutes of Health and CER - (National Institutes of Health (NIH))  - The NIH identified a range of Challenge Areas that focus on specific knowledge gaps, scientific opportunities, new technologies, data generation, or research methods. Within each broad Challenge Area the NIH Institutes, Centers, and Offices have specified particular Challenge Topics that address their missions. Link to additional information on the Challenge Topics.
  • National Partnership for Action to End Health Disparities (NPA) - (Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) U.S.)  - The mission of the National Partnership for Action is to mobilize and connect individuals and organizations across the country to create a Nation free of health disparities, with quality health outcomes for all people. The campaign, launched by the Office of Minority Health (OMH) focuses on health status and health outcomes among racial and ethnic minority populations.
  • Partnership to Improve Patient Care - Group of healthcare organization representing patients, physicians and other health care providers, researchers and innovators, and other groups that have come together to promote comparative effectiveness research that supports patient access and informed health care decision-making and fosters continued medical progress.
  • Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) - (Government Accountability Office (GAO) US)  - The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) is an independent organization created to help people make informed health care decisions and improve health care delivery. PCORI will commission research that is guided by patients, caregivers and the broader health care community and will produce high integrity, evidence-based information. In March 2012 PCORI revised their definition.
  • PROMIS: Clinical Outcomes Assessment - (National Institutes of Health (NIH))  - As part of the NIH Roadmap for Medical Research, the PROMIS (Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System) initiative is developing new ways to measure patient-reported outcomes (PROs), such as pain, fatigue, physical functioning, emotional distress, and social role participation that have a major impact on quality-of-life across a variety of chronic diseases. Clinical measures of health outcomes, such as x-rays and lab tests, may have minimal relevance to the day-to-day functioning of patients with chronic diseases.
  • VA HSR&D - (Health Services Research and Development Service, Veterans Administration (HSR&D))  - A majority of the VA's research portfolio involves CER, studying CER questions that relate to organization and delivery of care.

Legislation and Policy

  • Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's Process for Awarding Recovery Act Funds and Disseminating Results images/pdf.gif icon - (Government Accountability Office (GAO) US)  - According to AHRQ officials, the agency plans to disseminate the results of Recovery Act-funded CER using a range of existing mechanisms. These mechanisms include written products, training programs, social media tools, and AHRQ's website. AHRQ is also developing additional strategies to disseminate CER results. AHRQ awarded four contracts using Recovery Act funds totaling approximately $42.3 million to promote innovative approaches for disseminating CER results. A variety of efforts are conducted under these contracts, including efforts to educate clinicians and develop regional dissemination offices.
  • H.R. 2502 - Comparative Effectiveness Research Act of 2009 - (Library of Congress)  - On May 19, 2009, Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-OH), joined by 11 co-sponsors, introduced H.R. 2502, "The Comparative Effectiveness Research Act of 2009." This legislation would establish a private, non-profit organization, the Health Care Comparative Effectiveness Research Institute, to conduct research evaluating and comparing the implications and outcomes of two or more health care therapies in treating a particular medical condition.
  • Public Law 111-152, Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 - Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 - Title I: Coverage, Medicare, Medicaid, and Revenues - Subtitle A: Coverage - (Sec. 1001) Amends Internal Revenue Code provisions added by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) to revise the formula for calculating the refundable tax credit for premium assistance for coverage under a qualified health plan by establishing a sliding scale from the initial to the final premium percentage for individuals and families with household incomes up to 400% of the federal poverty line. Requires adjustments, after 2014 and after 2018, of the initial and final premium percentages to reflect the excess (if any) of the rate of premium growth over the rate of growth of income and the consumer price index.

Meetings/Conferences/Webinars

Past Meetings/Conferences' Archives and Reports

  • CER Evidence Summit - April 3-4 2012, Washington, DC - ExL Pharma's CER Evidence Summit: Counteracting the Impact of Generating Comparative Effectiveness Research Winners & Losers conference seeks to assist participants in developing a clear understanding of the role CER plays in both drug development and post-approval processes, as well as discovering new strategies in communicating CER evidence for life cycle management.
  • Comparative Effectiveness Research: Methods and Applications, May 11-12, 2011 - (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC))  - The conference is being sponsored by The North Carolina Translational and Clinical Sciences Institute, the UNC-GSK Center of Excellence in Pharmacoepidemiology and Public Health, and the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research. The conference's theme will be "Comparative Effectiveness Research: Methods and Applications."
  • Current Challenges In Comparative Effectiveness Research - (Health Affairs)  - Videos from the briefing held October 11, 2012 in Washington, D.C. are available. Included are discussion on "Legal Issues On Promotion And Communication Of Comparative Effectiveness Research", "Patients' Concerns And Patient Centeredness", "The Use Of Research By Payers And Clinicians", and "Moving Comparative Effectiveness Research Forward".
  • ECRI Institute's 15th Annual Conference Report: Key Questions and Issues - (ECRI Institute US)  - On October 17 and 18, 2007, ECRI Institute's 15th Annual Conference: Comparative Effectiveness of Health Interventions: Strategies to Change Policy and Practice brought together more than 200 representatives from state and federal government agencies, device manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies, provider organizations, health plans and insurers for a dialogue with 30 of the nation's leading health policy experts and stakeholders.
  • First Annual CER Symposium: Responding to the National CER Agenda: Evolving Data Sources and Analytics - (Lewin Group US)  - Held 6/15/2010, the focus of the symposium was the role that data will play in the implementation of CER projects. Speakers and panels covered the uses of new data sources in CER and ways to link claims data to outcomes; the limits of randomized clinical trials in CER; propensity scoring, selection bias, and decomposition analysis; and HIPAA constraints, privacy and confidentiality. Access agenda and presentations.
  • Methodological Challenges in Comparative Effectiveness Research - (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), National Institutes of Health (NIH))  - Sponsored by AHRQ and NIH, the conference made use of case studies that pose difficult questions about what kinds of research, methods and analyses should be used to address limitations in current evidence for interventions and tests being examined by decision-making bodies.
  • Moving from Policy to Practice in Research and Delivery, March 14-15, 2012, Washington, DC - (National Pharmaceutical Council (NPC) US)  - This meeting will highlight the changing nature of evidence standards within the marketplace; specifically, the continued push for increased levels of evidence of comparative effectiveness applied within health technology assessments (HTAs). The goal of the meeting is to focus less on definitions and theoretic concepts, and more on the application of comparative effectiveness research (CER) and HTA within drug development and research planning.
  • National Workshop to Advance Use of Electronic Data, Palo Alto, CA, July 2-3, 2012 - (Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) US)  - PCORI convened a select group of researchers and thought leaders for this two-day workshop that focused on developing ideas for how PCORI can facilitate the creation or function of a national data infrastructure to support high quality patient-centered outcomes research.
  • Third National Comparative Effectiveness Summit, October 12-14, 2011 - The purpose of the National Comparative Effectiveness Summit is to provide an understanding of what has changed now that comparative effectiveness is an institutionalized part of the American healthcare system. Summit presentations will draw lessons from CER experience in other countries and identify the practical implications of CER for various actors in the healthcare marketplace, including payors and health plans, hospital and health systems, physician organizations, clinicians and other healthcare professionals, and pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device manufacturers. This is a hybrid conference/internet event.

Upcoming Meetings and Conferences

  • Oregon Institute for Patient-Centered Comparative Effectiveness (ICE) Annual Research Intensive - (Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) US)  - October 14-18, 2012, Portland, OR - (Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) US) - This hands-on research intensive provides an opportunity for participants to learn patient-centered outcomes research and comparative effectiveness research (PCOR/CER) methods from national experts in the field. Sponsored by the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute, this course involves active, hands-on development of proposals for primary research and provides participants the tools with which to become leaders in PCOR/CER at their institutions. Applications due August 17, 2012.

Webcasts

  • PCORI: What Is It and What Role Will It Play In Shaping the Future of Healthcare In the US? - (Women in Government Relations (WGR) US)  - The Health and Social Policies Task Force will host a discussion with Joe Selby, M.D., the newly named executive director of the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute an entity created under provisions within the Patient Protections and Affordable Care Act. During this roundtable discussion, Dr. Selby will share the developing vision of PCORI and the role that the organization will play in moving the US toward a quality driven value-based purchaser of healthcare services.