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Patient-Centered Research Report Sent to Congress Outlining Research Priorities
Council
Reports Back After Vigorous Public Outreach; Advises New Research
Dollars To Focus On Populations Who Have Been Under-Represented And
Better, More Coordinated Dissemination Of Information To Patients And
Providers
Recommendations for how the HHS Office
of the Secretary will spend $400 million in funds for patient-centered
research, also known as comparative effectiveness research, were
released today by Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative
Effectiveness Research (CER). The report, mandated by the American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act, is designed to help the HHS Secretary
and lawmakers improve the quality of care for patients, and provide
patients and doctors the best information possible to make decisions
about health care.
The Federal Coordinating Council for
Comparative Effectiveness Research report also catalogues current
federal activities on CER, which had not been previously inventoried.
The new report is available at www.hhs.gov/recovery/programs/cer.
“This
essential patient centered research will help give patients and doctors
more information so they can make the best decisions,” said HHS
Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. “The council has produced an important
tool that will help us better target our investments in this vital area
of health care research. I was impressed by the amount of public input
that was incorporated into their report; especially the focus on
funding research for populations who have been left behind or left out.”
The
council was charged by Congress with the task of identifying key areas
of comparative effectiveness research where funding could make the
greatest impact to improve health outcomes for our nation. The council
heard many perspectives, including public input from hundreds of
diverse stakeholders, which influenced the entire report. The report
includes a definition of CER, criteria for determining which research
projects should be a priority, and a strategic framework to identify
gaps and future priorities.
The council focused on the unique
role that the Office of Secretary funds could play in complementing and
leveraging funding currently allocated to the Agency for Healthcare
Research and Quality, National Institutes of Health, and other
government agencies. Recommendations include the following:
It
is critically important to be able to share the results of comparative
effectiveness research with doctors and patients and make better
investments in how information is disseminated;
Research should
focus on the needs of priority populations such as racial and ethnic
minorities, persons with disabilities, persons with multiple chronic
conditions, the elderly, and children;
Research should be in
specific high-impact health arenas such as medical and assistive
devices, surgical procedures, behavioral interventions and prevention;
and
Investments should be made in data infrastructure such as
linking current data sources to enable answering CER questions,
development of distributed electronic data networks and partnerships
with the private sector.
The council’s report will help to
inform Secretary Sebelius’ submission of an operational plan for the
combined $1.1 billion allocated for patient-centered research, which
includes the $400 million allocated to the Office of the Secretary at
HHS. This investment will empower clinicians and patients with the
information needed to achieve the best outcomes possible.
Angela
Leslie
Leslie
Angela
Angela
Angela