In This Week’s Issue:
1. PIPC Chairman Tony Coelho Responds to Bloomberg Op-Ed on PCORI, click here to view the statement.
2. PIPC/AGA Dissemination & Implementation Roundtable, click here to view the blog post.
3. PCORI Releases "Dashboard" Displaying Accomplishments of 2013, click here to view.
4. PCORI Approves $5 Million to Fund Methods Research with PROMIS, click here to view the press release.
5. PCORI Blog: Evaluating the PCORI Way: First Steps, click here to view the blog post.
6. Pink Sheet: PCORI's Selby Expects More Drug-Related Comparative Research In 2014; Repeal Rhetoric Declines in Congress, click here and here for the articles (subscription required).
7. CQ HealthBeat: PCORI Could Look to NIH, FDA and Industry for Funds for Data Networks, click here for the article (subscription required).
8. Inside Health Policy: Senate GOP's Alternative To Obamacare Leaves ACA Medicare Reforms In Place, click here to read the article (subscription required).
1. PIPC Chairman Tony Coelho Responds to Bloomberg Op-Ed on PCORI, click here to view the statement.
2. PIPC/AGA Dissemination & Implementation Roundtable, click here to view the blog post.
3. PCORI Releases "Dashboard" Displaying Accomplishments of 2013, click here to view.
4. PCORI Approves $5 Million to Fund Methods Research with PROMIS, click here to view the press release.
5. PCORI Blog: Evaluating the PCORI Way: First Steps, click here to view the blog post.
6. Pink Sheet: PCORI's Selby Expects More Drug-Related Comparative Research In 2014; Repeal Rhetoric Declines in Congress, click here and here for the articles (subscription required).
7. CQ HealthBeat: PCORI Could Look to NIH, FDA and Industry for Funds for Data Networks, click here for the article (subscription required).
8. Inside Health Policy: Senate GOP's Alternative To Obamacare Leaves ACA Medicare Reforms In Place, click here to read the article (subscription required).
1. PIPC Chairman Responds to Bloomberg Op-Ed on PCORI
In response to a recent op-ed on PCORI published in Bloomberg by Dr. Peter Orszag, former director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), PIPC Chairman Tony Coelho released a statement lauding the Institute for its patient-centered mission. Chairman Coelho said, “Rather than pursue a research agenda as defined by an insular group of experts in Washington, PCORI was set up to engage patients, caregivers and the publicly directly, and give them a real voice in decision-making, in order to ensure that the Institute was studying the questions that matter most.”
Chairman Coelho continued, “PCORI is implementing precisely the mandate it was given in statute. This mandate recognized that historically, some of the biggest, highest-impact evidence gaps are not related to tests or treatments, but to approaches to organizing, managing and delivering care. […] It also should be noted that PCORI is devoting considerable resources to building sustainable research infrastructure that, when built, will support research across the full spectrum of interventions – tests, treatments, and health care management and delivery.” Click here to view the statement.
2. PIPC/AGA Dissemination & Implementation Roundtable
Last week, PIPC submitted to the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) a summary of the roundtable held on November 6, 2013 co-hosted by the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) and attended by several organizations representing both patients and clinicians. The discussion of patient advocacy and provider organizations looked at the development of a Dissemination and Implementation Action Plan by PCORI. The goal of the Roundtable was to identify and articulate consensus recommendations to guide PCORI as it initiates this next phase of its research agenda. Among its recommendations, the participants consistently emphasized the need for early engagement and collaboration with patient advocacy groups and provider groups for effective communication of research findings.
The document summarizes that discussion and promulgates a set of observations and recommendations that reflect areas where consensus was either achieved or is presumptively achievable among the participating groups (Appendix A). Click here to view the summary.
3. PCORI Releases "Dashboard" Displaying Accomplishments of 2013
On Tuesday, the PCORI Board of Governors met for their second meeting of the year. The agenda included the first public presentation of PCORI’s Dashboard. The document is a graphic display describing how well PCORI has accomplished their priorities for 2013. Thirteen of the seventeen priorities that PCORI measured were deemed “on track,” four were classified as “off track”, and none were deemed “need[ing] attention.” “Off track,” Executive Director Joe Selby noted, means that a priority has not yet met timely goals, but that it is moving in a positive direction.
Most notably behind are the advisory panels for Rare Disease, Clinical Trials, and Communication and Dissemination. Dr. Selby reported that the slates for the Rare Disease and Clinical Trials panels will be presented by the end of the quarter. The slate for the Communication and Dissemination panel will be presented to the Board in September.
The Board asked that the next Dashboard include targets for each of the goals displayed, but otherwise stated they were extremely satisfied with the document. Dr. Selby also noted that PCORI will be switching from a calendar year (CY) to fiscal year (FY) reporting structure. Click here to view the PCORI slides, including the “Dashboard.”
4. PCORI Approves $5 Million to Fund Methods Research with PROMIS
The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) recently announced, “the Board of Governors has approved $5 million in funding for research focused on the Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). ’Funding PCORI projects focused on PROMIS will allow us to substantially advance the use of these tools in comparative effectiveness research,’ said PCORI Executive Director Joe Selby, MD, MPH. ‘Working with the NIH allows us to build on its investment in a comprehensive, flexible, and patient-centered measurement system.’” Click here to view the press release.
5. PCORI Blog: Evaluating the PCORI Way: First Steps
In a new post on The PCORI Blog, Michele Orza, Senior Advisor to PCORI’s Executive Director, and Laura Forsythe, a Senior Program Officer in PCORI’s Research Integration and Evaluation Program discuss the PCORI Evaluation Group (PEG). They comment, “[a]s proponents of evidence-based practice, we at PCORI are eager to find out the extent to which our patient-centered approach to comparative effectiveness research leads to more useful healthcare information. To explore this issue, we recently established the PCORI Evaluation Group (PEG), a task force that will advise us on how best to measure and evaluate the effectiveness of our work—from the usefulness of the studies we fund, to the extent to which the findings from these studies affect health decisions. As our evaluation framework takes shape, we will continue to seek the input from our internal and external stakeholders in the design and conduct of our evaluation activities, the interpretation of their results, and the response to what we are learning.” Click here to view the blog post.
6. Pink Sheet: PCORI's Selby Expects More Drug-Related Comparative Research In 2014; Repeal Rhetoric Declines in Congress
Gregory Twachtman of The Pink Sheet reported, “‘I think it's reasonable to say that there will be more of these drug-to-drug or device or diagnostics evaluations in response to that [longer trials] initiative,’ [PCORI Executive Director Joe Selby] said in an interview. ‘Also, a number of our targeted announcements will call for those kinds of studies as well.’ The announcement of funding for these longer studies is expected in February, creating a third method of selecting CER projects.” Click here to read the full article (subscription required).
Also last week, Mr. Twachtman reported that discussion around repealing PCORI has recently declined in Congress. He wrote, “[Project HOPE's Gail Wilensky], who frequently interacts with congressional staff, said that the ‘good news, as I look at it, is I don't and haven't heard…a lot of interest in blowing PCORI and comparative effectiveness research out of the water.’ [...] This is good news for PCORI, especially since the institute's federal funding is scheduled to sunset in 2019 and will need to be reauthorized by Congress if its work is to continue beyond then.” Click here to read the article (subscription required).
7. CQ HealthBeat: PCORI Could Look to NIH, FDA and Industry for Funds for Data Networks
Last week, CQ HealthBeat published an interview with PCORI’s Executive Director Joe Selby about the Institute’s work regarding electronic health records (EHR). Rebecca Adams reported, “The network of electronic patient records under construction by a research institute launched under the health law looks like it will contain the medical data of a broad swath of the U.S. population — about 28 million in 2015.”
“The network launched by the nonprofit [PCORI], created to identify which treatments and methods of health care delivery deliver the best medical outcomes, may include information on that number of people within 18 months, said the group’s executive director Joe Selby on Wednesday.” Click here for the article (subscription required).
8. Inside Health Policy: Senate GOP's Alternative To Obamacare Leaves ACA Medicare Reforms In Place
In an article in Inside Health Policy, John Wilkerson reported, “Senate Republicans on Monday proposed to repeal Obamacare -- except for its controversial Medicare reforms, including Medicare Advantage pay cuts, Independent Payment Advisory Board, Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, demonstrations on payment and delivery reforms, quality-measure systems and many other measures that Republicans have bashed for years.” Click here to read the article (subscription required).
In response to a recent op-ed on PCORI published in Bloomberg by Dr. Peter Orszag, former director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), PIPC Chairman Tony Coelho released a statement lauding the Institute for its patient-centered mission. Chairman Coelho said, “Rather than pursue a research agenda as defined by an insular group of experts in Washington, PCORI was set up to engage patients, caregivers and the publicly directly, and give them a real voice in decision-making, in order to ensure that the Institute was studying the questions that matter most.”
Chairman Coelho continued, “PCORI is implementing precisely the mandate it was given in statute. This mandate recognized that historically, some of the biggest, highest-impact evidence gaps are not related to tests or treatments, but to approaches to organizing, managing and delivering care. […] It also should be noted that PCORI is devoting considerable resources to building sustainable research infrastructure that, when built, will support research across the full spectrum of interventions – tests, treatments, and health care management and delivery.” Click here to view the statement.
2. PIPC/AGA Dissemination & Implementation Roundtable
Last week, PIPC submitted to the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) a summary of the roundtable held on November 6, 2013 co-hosted by the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) and attended by several organizations representing both patients and clinicians. The discussion of patient advocacy and provider organizations looked at the development of a Dissemination and Implementation Action Plan by PCORI. The goal of the Roundtable was to identify and articulate consensus recommendations to guide PCORI as it initiates this next phase of its research agenda. Among its recommendations, the participants consistently emphasized the need for early engagement and collaboration with patient advocacy groups and provider groups for effective communication of research findings.
The document summarizes that discussion and promulgates a set of observations and recommendations that reflect areas where consensus was either achieved or is presumptively achievable among the participating groups (Appendix A). Click here to view the summary.
3. PCORI Releases "Dashboard" Displaying Accomplishments of 2013
On Tuesday, the PCORI Board of Governors met for their second meeting of the year. The agenda included the first public presentation of PCORI’s Dashboard. The document is a graphic display describing how well PCORI has accomplished their priorities for 2013. Thirteen of the seventeen priorities that PCORI measured were deemed “on track,” four were classified as “off track”, and none were deemed “need[ing] attention.” “Off track,” Executive Director Joe Selby noted, means that a priority has not yet met timely goals, but that it is moving in a positive direction.
Most notably behind are the advisory panels for Rare Disease, Clinical Trials, and Communication and Dissemination. Dr. Selby reported that the slates for the Rare Disease and Clinical Trials panels will be presented by the end of the quarter. The slate for the Communication and Dissemination panel will be presented to the Board in September.
The Board asked that the next Dashboard include targets for each of the goals displayed, but otherwise stated they were extremely satisfied with the document. Dr. Selby also noted that PCORI will be switching from a calendar year (CY) to fiscal year (FY) reporting structure. Click here to view the PCORI slides, including the “Dashboard.”
4. PCORI Approves $5 Million to Fund Methods Research with PROMIS
The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) recently announced, “the Board of Governors has approved $5 million in funding for research focused on the Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). ’Funding PCORI projects focused on PROMIS will allow us to substantially advance the use of these tools in comparative effectiveness research,’ said PCORI Executive Director Joe Selby, MD, MPH. ‘Working with the NIH allows us to build on its investment in a comprehensive, flexible, and patient-centered measurement system.’” Click here to view the press release.
5. PCORI Blog: Evaluating the PCORI Way: First Steps
In a new post on The PCORI Blog, Michele Orza, Senior Advisor to PCORI’s Executive Director, and Laura Forsythe, a Senior Program Officer in PCORI’s Research Integration and Evaluation Program discuss the PCORI Evaluation Group (PEG). They comment, “[a]s proponents of evidence-based practice, we at PCORI are eager to find out the extent to which our patient-centered approach to comparative effectiveness research leads to more useful healthcare information. To explore this issue, we recently established the PCORI Evaluation Group (PEG), a task force that will advise us on how best to measure and evaluate the effectiveness of our work—from the usefulness of the studies we fund, to the extent to which the findings from these studies affect health decisions. As our evaluation framework takes shape, we will continue to seek the input from our internal and external stakeholders in the design and conduct of our evaluation activities, the interpretation of their results, and the response to what we are learning.” Click here to view the blog post.
6. Pink Sheet: PCORI's Selby Expects More Drug-Related Comparative Research In 2014; Repeal Rhetoric Declines in Congress
Gregory Twachtman of The Pink Sheet reported, “‘I think it's reasonable to say that there will be more of these drug-to-drug or device or diagnostics evaluations in response to that [longer trials] initiative,’ [PCORI Executive Director Joe Selby] said in an interview. ‘Also, a number of our targeted announcements will call for those kinds of studies as well.’ The announcement of funding for these longer studies is expected in February, creating a third method of selecting CER projects.” Click here to read the full article (subscription required).
Also last week, Mr. Twachtman reported that discussion around repealing PCORI has recently declined in Congress. He wrote, “[Project HOPE's Gail Wilensky], who frequently interacts with congressional staff, said that the ‘good news, as I look at it, is I don't and haven't heard…a lot of interest in blowing PCORI and comparative effectiveness research out of the water.’ [...] This is good news for PCORI, especially since the institute's federal funding is scheduled to sunset in 2019 and will need to be reauthorized by Congress if its work is to continue beyond then.” Click here to read the article (subscription required).
7. CQ HealthBeat: PCORI Could Look to NIH, FDA and Industry for Funds for Data Networks
Last week, CQ HealthBeat published an interview with PCORI’s Executive Director Joe Selby about the Institute’s work regarding electronic health records (EHR). Rebecca Adams reported, “The network of electronic patient records under construction by a research institute launched under the health law looks like it will contain the medical data of a broad swath of the U.S. population — about 28 million in 2015.”
“The network launched by the nonprofit [PCORI], created to identify which treatments and methods of health care delivery deliver the best medical outcomes, may include information on that number of people within 18 months, said the group’s executive director Joe Selby on Wednesday.” Click here for the article (subscription required).
8. Inside Health Policy: Senate GOP's Alternative To Obamacare Leaves ACA Medicare Reforms In Place
In an article in Inside Health Policy, John Wilkerson reported, “Senate Republicans on Monday proposed to repeal Obamacare -- except for its controversial Medicare reforms, including Medicare Advantage pay cuts, Independent Payment Advisory Board, Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, demonstrations on payment and delivery reforms, quality-measure systems and many other measures that Republicans have bashed for years.” Click here to read the article (subscription required).
