In This Week’s Issue:
1. PIPC Publishes Transcript of November PCORI Board Meeting, click here to view the transcript.
2. Washington Post: Panel will review medical outcomes to find out what works, click here to view the blog post.
3. Huffington Post: Supporting People with Multiple Chronic Conditions: A Health Priority, click here to view the blog post.
4. PCORI Blog: Executive Director Joe Selby Discusses PCORI's Strategic Plan, click here to view the blog post.
5. Inside Health Policy: PCORI Makes Several Changes to Final Methodology Report, click here to view the article (subscription only).
6. Steven Clauser to Join PCORI as Improving Healthcare Systems Program Director, click here to view the press release.
7. Pink Sheet: PCORI to Solicit More Head-To-Head Comparative Studies, click here to view the article (subscription only).
1. PIPC Publishes Transcript of November PCORI Board Meeting, click here to view the transcript.
2. Washington Post: Panel will review medical outcomes to find out what works, click here to view the blog post.
3. Huffington Post: Supporting People with Multiple Chronic Conditions: A Health Priority, click here to view the blog post.
4. PCORI Blog: Executive Director Joe Selby Discusses PCORI's Strategic Plan, click here to view the blog post.
5. Inside Health Policy: PCORI Makes Several Changes to Final Methodology Report, click here to view the article (subscription only).
6. Steven Clauser to Join PCORI as Improving Healthcare Systems Program Director, click here to view the press release.
7. Pink Sheet: PCORI to Solicit More Head-To-Head Comparative Studies, click here to view the article (subscription only).
1. PIPC Publishes Transcript of November PCORI Board Meeting
At the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute’s (PCORI) November 18 Board of Governors Meeting, PCORI approved their strategic plan and a Fiscal Year 2014 budget along with a resolution for PCORI to commit up to $1.03 billion in research funding over the next two fiscal years. In addition, the Board approved the charters for two new advisory panels, one on rare disease and the other on clinical trials. And it accepted the revised version of the PCORI Methodology Report, which provides a roadmap for conducting scientifically rigorous comparative clinical effectiveness research centered on questions and results that matter most to patients and other end-users of research results. A full transcript of this public meeting is now available here on the PIPC website.
During the public comment period (pg. 295 of the transcript), PIPC Executive Director Sara van Geertruyden presented recommendations outlined in the Partnership’s recent White Paper, Road Map for Prioritizing Research. The White Paper calls upon PCORI to implement changes in the culture of research, through an open and transparent process, in order to meet its mandate to conduct patient-centered comparative clinical effectiveness research. As Ms. van Geertruyden explained to the Board, PIPC has developed a priority-setting “road map” that:
•Calls on PCORI to establish a targeted research agenda based on a broad and structured solicitation of topics from patients and providers;
•Directs PCORI staff to evaluate and distill the suggested research topics to ensure research topics meet PCORI’s mandate of patient-centeredness and the statutory criteria for research;
•Develops a rationale and topic brief for research topics to provide both the PCORI board and the public with a clear and transparent understanding of PCORI’s research agenda;
•Utilizes the relevant clinical expertise (both within and beyond PCORI’s advisory panels) to help rank the topic list;
•Ensures the opportunity for public comment on the draft priority list and research agenda;
•Provides for input and approval by Board of Governors; and
•Promotes transparency of the priority-setting process in its entirety.
Additional materials made available at last week’s meeting are available here.
2. Washington Post: Panel will review medical outcomes to find out what works
The Washington Post Editorial Board wrote that, "PCORI will encounter its share of political dogfights….But the alternative — throwing money into the cash-gobbling health-care industry with little measurement or accountability — should be much less tolerable. In fact, the Affordable Care Act’s comparative effectiveness provisions don’t go far enough; the law bars the government from examining the cost effectiveness of medical practices in the most straightforward way. That analysis should at least be available for the public to consider. Click here to view.
3. Huffington Post: Supporting People with Chronic Conditions: A Health Priority
Dr. Howard Koh, Assistant Secretary for Health, and Dr. Anand Parekh, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health (Science and Medicine), articulated the "need to accelerate progress toward true patient-centered and person-centered care." They stated, "Working together in public-private partnerships, we can empower those with MCC, support their caregivers, and better equip professionals to assist in their care. We've been encouraged by the commitment of our colleagues in the private and non-profit sectors, specifically the National Council on Aging's Self-Management Alliance, the American Geriatric Society's Guiding Principles for the Care of Older Adults Multimorbidity project, and the Guidelines International Network's newly created Multimorbidity Working Group. In addition, organizations such as the National Health Council, the Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease, and the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute have all recognized the unique imperatives in this arena. We're making headway, but much work lies ahead."
4. PCORI Blog: Executive Director Joe Selby Discusses PCORI's Strategic Plan
In a post on the PCORI Blog, PCORI Executive Director Joe Selby comments, “Now, we have a focused roadmap to further guide our efforts – PCORI's strategic plan, approved by our Board at its Board's recent meeting in Atlanta... Our strategic plan identifies three primary goals that we must achieve to realize our mission and vision: Substantially increase the quantity, quality, and timeliness of useful, trustworthy information available to support health decisions; Speed the implementation and use of patient-centered outcomes research (PCOR) evidence; and Influence clinical and healthcare research funded by others to be more patient-centered.” Click here to view the blog post.
5. PCORI Makes Several Changes to Final Methodology Report
In a recent article, Lisa Gillespie of Inside Health Policy reports, “PCORI, responding to concerns about how the standards will be implemented, said the state of science underlying each standard varies. ‘Our intent is that (in funding decisions, for example) no one will be held to a set of fine details for this type of standard, but that the standards will allow the research community to offer more creative ways to achieve direction and goals we have set out,’ PCORI states in responses to comments. PCORI also says it will consider patient preferences when designing trial methodologies and include shared decision making in the standards, but the tight deadline did not give the institute enough time to deal with these policies in this report… PCORI said it weighed patient-centeredness, scientific rigor, transparency, empirical evidence, controversy around the standard and barriers to implementation when writing the standards.” Click here to view the article (subscription only).
Moreover, Diana Manos of Government Health IT reports “[Methodology Committee] members and PCORI staff will start working with organizations and institutions across the healthcare community to seek input on how to most effectively promote wider use of the standards through the development of training, implementation tools, and other resources. The hope is that the community, as it makes use of the report and standards, will regularly suggest ways to improve them. At the same time, the Committee and PCORI staff will continue working to identify areas where new standards might be needed or where current standards need revision.” Click here to view the article.
6. Steven Clauser to Join PCORI as Improving Healthcare Systems Program Director
According to a press release from PCORI, “Steven Clauser, PhD, MPA, will join the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute January 13 as the new Director of PCORI's Improving Healthcare Systems (IHS) Program...‘We are pleased to welcome Steve Clauser even as we must gradually bid farewell to Chad Boult, who has played a key leadership role during PCORI's formative years,’ said PCORI's Chief Science Officer Bryan Luce, PhD, MBA. ‘We look forward to benefitting from Steve's strong experience and leadership in comparative effectiveness research, project management and research funding.’” Click here to view the press release.
Discussing this recent announcement, Modern Healthcare reports, “The Improving Healthcare Systems program that [Steven Clauser] will head is one of five that correspond to PCORI's five main research priorities, which include improving health disparities and assessing prevention, diagnosis and treatment options. According to PCORI, projects that fall into the ‘improving health systems’ category address topics such as care coordination across settings, system-level approaches to improving access to care, and efforts to reduce waste. To date, the program has awarded more than $89 million in research grants, including more than $24 million awarded in September.” Click here to view the article.
7. Pink Sheet: PCORI To Solicit More Head-To-Head Comparative Studies
Gregory Twachtman of The Pink Sheet reported last week, “The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute announces plans to encourage the submission of more proposals for head-to-head clinical comparative effectiveness studies. Among the research topics the institute will encourage are the Institute of Medicine's top 100 priorities and recommendations from America's Health Insurance Plans.” Click here to view the article (subscription only).
At the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute’s (PCORI) November 18 Board of Governors Meeting, PCORI approved their strategic plan and a Fiscal Year 2014 budget along with a resolution for PCORI to commit up to $1.03 billion in research funding over the next two fiscal years. In addition, the Board approved the charters for two new advisory panels, one on rare disease and the other on clinical trials. And it accepted the revised version of the PCORI Methodology Report, which provides a roadmap for conducting scientifically rigorous comparative clinical effectiveness research centered on questions and results that matter most to patients and other end-users of research results. A full transcript of this public meeting is now available here on the PIPC website.
During the public comment period (pg. 295 of the transcript), PIPC Executive Director Sara van Geertruyden presented recommendations outlined in the Partnership’s recent White Paper, Road Map for Prioritizing Research. The White Paper calls upon PCORI to implement changes in the culture of research, through an open and transparent process, in order to meet its mandate to conduct patient-centered comparative clinical effectiveness research. As Ms. van Geertruyden explained to the Board, PIPC has developed a priority-setting “road map” that:
•Calls on PCORI to establish a targeted research agenda based on a broad and structured solicitation of topics from patients and providers;
•Directs PCORI staff to evaluate and distill the suggested research topics to ensure research topics meet PCORI’s mandate of patient-centeredness and the statutory criteria for research;
•Develops a rationale and topic brief for research topics to provide both the PCORI board and the public with a clear and transparent understanding of PCORI’s research agenda;
•Utilizes the relevant clinical expertise (both within and beyond PCORI’s advisory panels) to help rank the topic list;
•Ensures the opportunity for public comment on the draft priority list and research agenda;
•Provides for input and approval by Board of Governors; and
•Promotes transparency of the priority-setting process in its entirety.
Additional materials made available at last week’s meeting are available here.
2. Washington Post: Panel will review medical outcomes to find out what works
The Washington Post Editorial Board wrote that, "PCORI will encounter its share of political dogfights….But the alternative — throwing money into the cash-gobbling health-care industry with little measurement or accountability — should be much less tolerable. In fact, the Affordable Care Act’s comparative effectiveness provisions don’t go far enough; the law bars the government from examining the cost effectiveness of medical practices in the most straightforward way. That analysis should at least be available for the public to consider. Click here to view.
3. Huffington Post: Supporting People with Chronic Conditions: A Health Priority
Dr. Howard Koh, Assistant Secretary for Health, and Dr. Anand Parekh, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health (Science and Medicine), articulated the "need to accelerate progress toward true patient-centered and person-centered care." They stated, "Working together in public-private partnerships, we can empower those with MCC, support their caregivers, and better equip professionals to assist in their care. We've been encouraged by the commitment of our colleagues in the private and non-profit sectors, specifically the National Council on Aging's Self-Management Alliance, the American Geriatric Society's Guiding Principles for the Care of Older Adults Multimorbidity project, and the Guidelines International Network's newly created Multimorbidity Working Group. In addition, organizations such as the National Health Council, the Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease, and the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute have all recognized the unique imperatives in this arena. We're making headway, but much work lies ahead."
4. PCORI Blog: Executive Director Joe Selby Discusses PCORI's Strategic Plan
In a post on the PCORI Blog, PCORI Executive Director Joe Selby comments, “Now, we have a focused roadmap to further guide our efforts – PCORI's strategic plan, approved by our Board at its Board's recent meeting in Atlanta... Our strategic plan identifies three primary goals that we must achieve to realize our mission and vision: Substantially increase the quantity, quality, and timeliness of useful, trustworthy information available to support health decisions; Speed the implementation and use of patient-centered outcomes research (PCOR) evidence; and Influence clinical and healthcare research funded by others to be more patient-centered.” Click here to view the blog post.
5. PCORI Makes Several Changes to Final Methodology Report
In a recent article, Lisa Gillespie of Inside Health Policy reports, “PCORI, responding to concerns about how the standards will be implemented, said the state of science underlying each standard varies. ‘Our intent is that (in funding decisions, for example) no one will be held to a set of fine details for this type of standard, but that the standards will allow the research community to offer more creative ways to achieve direction and goals we have set out,’ PCORI states in responses to comments. PCORI also says it will consider patient preferences when designing trial methodologies and include shared decision making in the standards, but the tight deadline did not give the institute enough time to deal with these policies in this report… PCORI said it weighed patient-centeredness, scientific rigor, transparency, empirical evidence, controversy around the standard and barriers to implementation when writing the standards.” Click here to view the article (subscription only).
Moreover, Diana Manos of Government Health IT reports “[Methodology Committee] members and PCORI staff will start working with organizations and institutions across the healthcare community to seek input on how to most effectively promote wider use of the standards through the development of training, implementation tools, and other resources. The hope is that the community, as it makes use of the report and standards, will regularly suggest ways to improve them. At the same time, the Committee and PCORI staff will continue working to identify areas where new standards might be needed or where current standards need revision.” Click here to view the article.
6. Steven Clauser to Join PCORI as Improving Healthcare Systems Program Director
According to a press release from PCORI, “Steven Clauser, PhD, MPA, will join the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute January 13 as the new Director of PCORI's Improving Healthcare Systems (IHS) Program...‘We are pleased to welcome Steve Clauser even as we must gradually bid farewell to Chad Boult, who has played a key leadership role during PCORI's formative years,’ said PCORI's Chief Science Officer Bryan Luce, PhD, MBA. ‘We look forward to benefitting from Steve's strong experience and leadership in comparative effectiveness research, project management and research funding.’” Click here to view the press release.
Discussing this recent announcement, Modern Healthcare reports, “The Improving Healthcare Systems program that [Steven Clauser] will head is one of five that correspond to PCORI's five main research priorities, which include improving health disparities and assessing prevention, diagnosis and treatment options. According to PCORI, projects that fall into the ‘improving health systems’ category address topics such as care coordination across settings, system-level approaches to improving access to care, and efforts to reduce waste. To date, the program has awarded more than $89 million in research grants, including more than $24 million awarded in September.” Click here to view the article.
7. Pink Sheet: PCORI To Solicit More Head-To-Head Comparative Studies
Gregory Twachtman of The Pink Sheet reported last week, “The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute announces plans to encourage the submission of more proposals for head-to-head clinical comparative effectiveness studies. Among the research topics the institute will encourage are the Institute of Medicine's top 100 priorities and recommendations from America's Health Insurance Plans.” Click here to view the article (subscription only).
