In This Week’s Issue
1. PIPC Launches New Website: PIPCpatients.org, click here to view the new website.
2. Summary of PIPC's 2012 Roundtable Series, click here to view.
3. PCORI Schedules Roundtable to Discuss Dissemination and Implementation, clickhere for more information, and to register for the webinar.
4. PCORI-NIH Partnership on Fall-Related Injury Prevention Yields Request for Applications, click here to view the press release.
5. Video: ACRO Interview with PIPC Chairman and Executive Director, click here to view part one of the interview, and here to view part two.
6. PCORI Blog: Learning from Clinical Data, click here to view the blog post.
7. Pink Sheet: Dissemination Of CER Evidence Remains Key Challenge, PCORI Survey Suggests, click here to view the article (subscription only).
8. NEJM Opinion: Communicating and Promoting Comparative-Effectiveness Research Findings, click here to view the article.
9. Wall Street Journal: Slowdown in Health Spending Could Be at Risk, click here to view the article (subscription only).
1. PIPC Launches New Website: PIPCpatients.org, click here to view the new website.
2. Summary of PIPC's 2012 Roundtable Series, click here to view.
3. PCORI Schedules Roundtable to Discuss Dissemination and Implementation, clickhere for more information, and to register for the webinar.
4. PCORI-NIH Partnership on Fall-Related Injury Prevention Yields Request for Applications, click here to view the press release.
5. Video: ACRO Interview with PIPC Chairman and Executive Director, click here to view part one of the interview, and here to view part two.
6. PCORI Blog: Learning from Clinical Data, click here to view the blog post.
7. Pink Sheet: Dissemination Of CER Evidence Remains Key Challenge, PCORI Survey Suggests, click here to view the article (subscription only).
8. NEJM Opinion: Communicating and Promoting Comparative-Effectiveness Research Findings, click here to view the article.
9. Wall Street Journal: Slowdown in Health Spending Could Be at Risk, click here to view the article (subscription only).
1. PIPC Launches New Website: PIPCpatients.org
The Partnership to Improve Patient Care (PIPC) announced the launch of a new state-of-the-art website at PIPCpatients.org. The new site, which features active blogging by patients and patient advocates, also provides a valuable public library of information related to comparative effectiveness research policy implications and the role of the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute, known as PCORI, which was created under the Affordable Care Act. Click here to view the press release on the new website.
Jason Millman of Politico reports, “The Partnership to Improve Patient Care — a group that supports comparative effectiveness research — is opening a new website, PIPCpatients.org, today. The group is hoping to provide a public library of information related to CER policy implications and PCORI. The site will have regular updates from PIPC Chairman and former Rep. Tony Coelho.” Click here to view the citation in Politico Pulse.
2. Summary of PIPC's 2012 Roundtable Series
Since the creation of PCORI, it has been clear to PIPC that it would be crucial for patients and physicians to work together in support of an agenda that is responsive to our shared needs at the point of treatment decision-making. To that end, PIPC supported a series of roundtables with leading physician and patient organizations beginning in early 2012 to identify, discuss, and define potential next steps in key areas of PCORI’s work. Leading medical societies that serve on PIPC’s Steering Committee – such as the American College of Cardiology and American Association of Neurological Surgeons – were instrumental in helping organize several of these roundtables.
The roundtables that PIPC hosted provided valuable input and perspectives, and PIPC committed to continuing these roundtables in 2013 to continue developing patient-centered solutions to some of the key challenges that have been identified. The document included below provides a brief overview of the highlights and successes of PIPC's 2012 roundtable series. Click here to view a summary of PIPC’s 2012 roundtable series.
3. PCORI Schedules Roundtable to Discuss Dissemination and Implementation
The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) has announced that they will hold a roundtable on July 29, 2013 to discuss the dissemination and implementation of comparative clinical effectiveness research (CER) findings. According to a release from PCORI, “We are commissioning the development of the PCORI Blueprint for Dissemination and Implementation of Research to complement the work with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). The roundtable is an opportunity to provide input into the development of the request for proposal (RFP) for the commission.” Click here for more information, and to register for the webinar.
In a blog post, PCORI’s Deputy Executive Director and Chief Officer for Engagement, Dr. Anne Beal, comments “We're working to determine the best practices for effectively sharing the results of our research with patients, caregivers, clinicians, and others critical to the clinical decision-making process. The webinar will include a roundtable discussion by experts on the dissemination and implementation of comparative clinical effectiveness research (CER) findings. The webinar is our first step in creating a Blueprint for the PCORI Dissemination and Implementation Action Plan for Research, which will complement our work with our dissemination partner, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). We will integrate insights from the webinar into a request for proposals (RFP), which we will release later this summer, seeking support for the preparation of the Blueprint.” Click here to view the blog post.
4. PCORI-NIH Partnership on Fall-Related Injury Prevention Yields Request for Applications
According to a press release from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), “As the next step in a partnership with PCORI, the National Institute on Aging, part of the National Institutes of Health, today issued a Request for Applications (RFA) for a large-scale, multi-pronged clinical trial on prevention of fall-related injuries in non-institutionalized older adults. PCORI will commit up to $30 million to fund the trial selected through the application and peer-review process that NIA will administer. The RFA arose from an agreement by the two institutes announced in June to form the ‘Falls Injuries Prevention Partnership,’ which focuses on a common, serious health concern for older individuals, their families, and their clinicians.” Click here to view the press release.
5. Video: ACRO Interview with PIPC Chairman and Executive Director
PIPC's member, the Association of Clinical Research Organizations, recently interviewed PIPC Chairman Tony Coelho and its Executive Director, Sara van Geertruyden, related to patient-centered comparative effectiveness research activities. Click here to view part one of the interview, and here to view part two.
6. PCORI Blog: Learning from Clinical Data
On the PCORI Blog, David Hickam, the Director of PCORI’s Assessment of Prevention, Diagnosis, and Treatment Options Program, and Claudia Grossmann, an organizer of the PCORI-sponsored IOM workshop on observational studies comment, “Another source of evidence about clinical effectiveness is observational studies, research that uses data from patients as they receive customary clinical care. With the widespread adoption of electronic health records (EHRs), large amounts of clinical data, including treatment and outcomes information, are becoming available. Observational research has the potential to detect differences in treatment effectiveness in patient subgroups with various characteristics and thus to develop predictions of how individual patients, with their unique sets of characteristics, will respond to specific treatments. PCORI is taking steps to build capacity to conduct such research.” Click here to view the blog post.
7. Pink Sheet: Dissemination Of CER Evidence Remains Key Challenge, PCORI Survey Suggests
Gregory Twachtman of The Pink Sheet reports, “The survey results lent support to one of PCORI's key objectives – generating data on subjects and outcomes that are important to patients. [PCORI Director of Engagement Research Lori Frank] noted that patients, caregivers and clinicians ‘indicated that they valued research that measures things that patients care about, such as daily functioning. Nearly 90% of all three groups rated this as very or moderately important. We are pleased to see that there's enthusiasm for this patient-centered view on research.’” Click here to view the article (subscription only).
8. NEJM Opinion: Communicating and Promoting Comparative-Effectiveness Research Findings
In an opinion piece published in The New England Journal of Medicine, Peter J. Neumann, Sc.D. comments, “A possible step forward would be for Congress to broaden the scope of a legislative provision — Section 114 of the Food and Drug Administration Modernization Act of 1997 — that enables drug companies to promote information related to health care economics that conforms to a broader ‘competent and reliable scientific evidence’ standard rather than the substantial-evidence criterion, as long as the targets of that promotion are restricted to formulary committees or similar entities and the information is directly related to approved indications. Extending Section 114 to include CER findings would permit pharmaceutical companies to promote the information using the competent-and-reliable standard, though only to organizations such as health plans. Expanding Section 114 in this way would reflect a grand bargain of sorts, providing a more flexible evidentiary framework for business-to-business communication of CER findings while retaining key protections.” Click here to view the article.
9. Wall Street Journal: Slowdown in Health Spending Could Be at Risk
Melinda Beck of The Wall Street Journal reports, “By law, [Medicare] can't consider price when making coverage decisions. Nor can it insist that a new technology be significantly better than existing ones or encourage doctors or patients to seek less-costly alternatives. Comparative-effectiveness research called for in the new health law could help assess which advances are worth paying for, but only if Medicare is allowed to use it.” Click here to view the article (subscription only).
The Partnership to Improve Patient Care (PIPC) announced the launch of a new state-of-the-art website at PIPCpatients.org. The new site, which features active blogging by patients and patient advocates, also provides a valuable public library of information related to comparative effectiveness research policy implications and the role of the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute, known as PCORI, which was created under the Affordable Care Act. Click here to view the press release on the new website.
Jason Millman of Politico reports, “The Partnership to Improve Patient Care — a group that supports comparative effectiveness research — is opening a new website, PIPCpatients.org, today. The group is hoping to provide a public library of information related to CER policy implications and PCORI. The site will have regular updates from PIPC Chairman and former Rep. Tony Coelho.” Click here to view the citation in Politico Pulse.
2. Summary of PIPC's 2012 Roundtable Series
Since the creation of PCORI, it has been clear to PIPC that it would be crucial for patients and physicians to work together in support of an agenda that is responsive to our shared needs at the point of treatment decision-making. To that end, PIPC supported a series of roundtables with leading physician and patient organizations beginning in early 2012 to identify, discuss, and define potential next steps in key areas of PCORI’s work. Leading medical societies that serve on PIPC’s Steering Committee – such as the American College of Cardiology and American Association of Neurological Surgeons – were instrumental in helping organize several of these roundtables.
The roundtables that PIPC hosted provided valuable input and perspectives, and PIPC committed to continuing these roundtables in 2013 to continue developing patient-centered solutions to some of the key challenges that have been identified. The document included below provides a brief overview of the highlights and successes of PIPC's 2012 roundtable series. Click here to view a summary of PIPC’s 2012 roundtable series.
3. PCORI Schedules Roundtable to Discuss Dissemination and Implementation
The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) has announced that they will hold a roundtable on July 29, 2013 to discuss the dissemination and implementation of comparative clinical effectiveness research (CER) findings. According to a release from PCORI, “We are commissioning the development of the PCORI Blueprint for Dissemination and Implementation of Research to complement the work with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). The roundtable is an opportunity to provide input into the development of the request for proposal (RFP) for the commission.” Click here for more information, and to register for the webinar.
In a blog post, PCORI’s Deputy Executive Director and Chief Officer for Engagement, Dr. Anne Beal, comments “We're working to determine the best practices for effectively sharing the results of our research with patients, caregivers, clinicians, and others critical to the clinical decision-making process. The webinar will include a roundtable discussion by experts on the dissemination and implementation of comparative clinical effectiveness research (CER) findings. The webinar is our first step in creating a Blueprint for the PCORI Dissemination and Implementation Action Plan for Research, which will complement our work with our dissemination partner, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). We will integrate insights from the webinar into a request for proposals (RFP), which we will release later this summer, seeking support for the preparation of the Blueprint.” Click here to view the blog post.
4. PCORI-NIH Partnership on Fall-Related Injury Prevention Yields Request for Applications
According to a press release from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), “As the next step in a partnership with PCORI, the National Institute on Aging, part of the National Institutes of Health, today issued a Request for Applications (RFA) for a large-scale, multi-pronged clinical trial on prevention of fall-related injuries in non-institutionalized older adults. PCORI will commit up to $30 million to fund the trial selected through the application and peer-review process that NIA will administer. The RFA arose from an agreement by the two institutes announced in June to form the ‘Falls Injuries Prevention Partnership,’ which focuses on a common, serious health concern for older individuals, their families, and their clinicians.” Click here to view the press release.
5. Video: ACRO Interview with PIPC Chairman and Executive Director
PIPC's member, the Association of Clinical Research Organizations, recently interviewed PIPC Chairman Tony Coelho and its Executive Director, Sara van Geertruyden, related to patient-centered comparative effectiveness research activities. Click here to view part one of the interview, and here to view part two.
6. PCORI Blog: Learning from Clinical Data
On the PCORI Blog, David Hickam, the Director of PCORI’s Assessment of Prevention, Diagnosis, and Treatment Options Program, and Claudia Grossmann, an organizer of the PCORI-sponsored IOM workshop on observational studies comment, “Another source of evidence about clinical effectiveness is observational studies, research that uses data from patients as they receive customary clinical care. With the widespread adoption of electronic health records (EHRs), large amounts of clinical data, including treatment and outcomes information, are becoming available. Observational research has the potential to detect differences in treatment effectiveness in patient subgroups with various characteristics and thus to develop predictions of how individual patients, with their unique sets of characteristics, will respond to specific treatments. PCORI is taking steps to build capacity to conduct such research.” Click here to view the blog post.
7. Pink Sheet: Dissemination Of CER Evidence Remains Key Challenge, PCORI Survey Suggests
Gregory Twachtman of The Pink Sheet reports, “The survey results lent support to one of PCORI's key objectives – generating data on subjects and outcomes that are important to patients. [PCORI Director of Engagement Research Lori Frank] noted that patients, caregivers and clinicians ‘indicated that they valued research that measures things that patients care about, such as daily functioning. Nearly 90% of all three groups rated this as very or moderately important. We are pleased to see that there's enthusiasm for this patient-centered view on research.’” Click here to view the article (subscription only).
8. NEJM Opinion: Communicating and Promoting Comparative-Effectiveness Research Findings
In an opinion piece published in The New England Journal of Medicine, Peter J. Neumann, Sc.D. comments, “A possible step forward would be for Congress to broaden the scope of a legislative provision — Section 114 of the Food and Drug Administration Modernization Act of 1997 — that enables drug companies to promote information related to health care economics that conforms to a broader ‘competent and reliable scientific evidence’ standard rather than the substantial-evidence criterion, as long as the targets of that promotion are restricted to formulary committees or similar entities and the information is directly related to approved indications. Extending Section 114 to include CER findings would permit pharmaceutical companies to promote the information using the competent-and-reliable standard, though only to organizations such as health plans. Expanding Section 114 in this way would reflect a grand bargain of sorts, providing a more flexible evidentiary framework for business-to-business communication of CER findings while retaining key protections.” Click here to view the article.
9. Wall Street Journal: Slowdown in Health Spending Could Be at Risk
Melinda Beck of The Wall Street Journal reports, “By law, [Medicare] can't consider price when making coverage decisions. Nor can it insist that a new technology be significantly better than existing ones or encourage doctors or patients to seek less-costly alternatives. Comparative-effectiveness research called for in the new health law could help assess which advances are worth paying for, but only if Medicare is allowed to use it.” Click here to view the article (subscription only).
