In This Week’s Issue:
- Huffington Post: Nothing NICE About ICER, click here to view.
- ICER Opens National Call for Proposed Improvements to its Value Assessment Framework, click here to view.
- AHRQ: Guide to Improving Patient Safety in Primary Care Settings by Engaging Patients and Families, click here for details.
- Joint Commission: Busting the Myths about Engaging Patients and Families in Patient Safety, click here to view.
- PCORI Board Approves $153 Million to Support Patient-Centered Comparative Clinical Effectiveness Research, click here to view.
- AHRQ Toolkit Helps Health Care Organizations and Providers Communicate With Patients and Families When Harm Occurs, click here to view.
- PCORI: Multiple Sclerosis Research Network Builds on Patient Input, click here to view.
1. Huffington Post: Nothing NICE About ICER
As former MLB pitcher and cancer survivor, Bob Tufts comments for the Huffington Post, “The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) is emerging as a major player in the health care cost debate. The organization through its affiliates is holding public meetings focusing on specific diseases and outlining their model of controlling costs, providing value and what the ‘best’ treatment will be for patients. When I read their website, however, I was shocked to discover how ICER tries to portray itself to the world as a fair arbiter of controlling cost, providing value and deciding the best treatment.
“On its “ICER Opens National Call for Proposed Improvements to its Value Assessment Framework”) page, it cites as one of its highest priorities the use of ‘incremental cost effectiveness ratios: appropriate thresholds, best practices in capturing health outcomes through the QALY or other measures.’ QALY (quality adjusted life years) is used by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence in the United Kingdom to basically ration expected results from treatments based on averages (which as I have stated before, we patients are not averages).”
“I have a personal reason to abhor any cost-effectiveness program in the United States that proposes using QALY as a standard for care. In 2009 I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma. At the time that I was treated, most multiple myeloma patients were dying in one to three years. In the United Kingdom — the home of QALY based care — my novel treatment protocol had not yet been approved under their national health plan due to cost concerns and the statistical likelihood of its limited extension of a patient’s life. If these rules had been in effect in the United States in early 2009, I probably would not have survived — and those that endorsed these theories would have surely been complicit in my premature death from cancer.” Click here to view the article.
2. ICER Opens National Call for Proposed Improvements to its Value Assessment Framework
According to a recent press release, “To inform a planned 2017 update to the methods that underpin its evidence reports on new drugs and other health care interventions, the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) is opening a national call for suggestions on how to improve its value assessment framework. We invite all interested parties to provide comments on the current ICER value framework, highlighting elements that are perceived to work well and others that should be re-examined. Where change is recommended, we are most hopeful of receiving specific proposals presenting alternative methods accompanied by arguments examining the potential advantages and disadvantages of multiple options. ICER will welcome comments though Monday, September 12th. We will use the suggestions received to guide internal review and further discussions with stakeholders, following which an updated version of the value framework will be finalized, announced, and used for ICER reports beginning in January 2017.” Click here to view the press release, including details on how to submit comments.
3. AHRQ: Guide to Improving Patient Safety in Primary Care Settings by Engaging Patients and Families
AHRQ: “Research shows that when patients are engaged in their health care, it can lead to measurable improvements in safety and quality. To promote stronger engagement, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) is developing a guide to help patients, families, and health professionals in primary care settings work together as partners to promote improvements in care. This ongoing project focuses on developing approaches to improve patient safety in primary care settings through the engagement of patients and families.” Click here for details on the project.
4. Joint Commission: Busting the Myths about Engaging Patients and Families in Patient Safety
As the Joint Commission explains, “Open and candid communication with patients and their families is a key component of safe and effective health care. However, communication between caregivers and patients is sometimes hindered by longstanding myths and misconceptions about the sharing of information. The Joint Commission, with input from its Patient and Family Advisory Council, has issued a white paper designed to dispel those myths and to help organizations design more effective communication practices.” Click here to view.
5. PCORI Board Approves $153 Million to Support Patient-Centered Comparative Clinical Effectiveness Research
According to a press release last week, “The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) Board of Governors today approved $152.8 million to fund 28 comparative clinical effectiveness research (CER) studies and seven related projects for improving CER methods. The funds will support studies of a range of conditions and problems that impose high burdens on patients, caregivers and the healthcare system… ‘These new projects reflect the best ideas of the research community for urgently needed research on topics prioritized with input from patients, family caregivers, clinicians, and other healthcare stakeholders,’ said PCORI Executive Director Joe Selby, MD, MPH. ‘The new studies expand our portfolio of patient-centered comparative effectiveness research that will produce vital evidence to address difficult questions on topics that matter most to patients.’” Click here to view the press release.
6. AHRQ Toolkit Helps Health Care Organizations and Providers Communicate With Patients and Families When Harm Occurs
Last week, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) released a new online toolkit to help hospital and health system leaders and clinicians communicate accurately and openly with patients and their families when something goes wrong with their care. “The toolkit will help expand use of an AHRQ-developed communication and resolution process called Communication and Optimal Resolution, or CANDOR, which gives hospitals and health systems the tools to respond immediately when a patient is harmed and to promote candid, empathetic communication and timely resolution for patients and caregivers.” Click here to view the online toolkit.
7. PCORI: Multiple Sclerosis Research Network Builds on Patient Input
On the PCORI Blog, Multiple Sclerosis advocates Robert McBurney and Laura Kolaczkowski comment, “One project already under way is the Multiple Sclerosis Patient-Powered Research Network (MS-PPRN), also called iConquerMS. This network serves as a bridge between people who have MS and researchers, helping patients ensure that research addresses their most pressing questions in order to improve care and outcomes.” Click here to view the blog post.
As former MLB pitcher and cancer survivor, Bob Tufts comments for the Huffington Post, “The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) is emerging as a major player in the health care cost debate. The organization through its affiliates is holding public meetings focusing on specific diseases and outlining their model of controlling costs, providing value and what the ‘best’ treatment will be for patients. When I read their website, however, I was shocked to discover how ICER tries to portray itself to the world as a fair arbiter of controlling cost, providing value and deciding the best treatment.
“On its “ICER Opens National Call for Proposed Improvements to its Value Assessment Framework”) page, it cites as one of its highest priorities the use of ‘incremental cost effectiveness ratios: appropriate thresholds, best practices in capturing health outcomes through the QALY or other measures.’ QALY (quality adjusted life years) is used by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence in the United Kingdom to basically ration expected results from treatments based on averages (which as I have stated before, we patients are not averages).”
“I have a personal reason to abhor any cost-effectiveness program in the United States that proposes using QALY as a standard for care. In 2009 I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma. At the time that I was treated, most multiple myeloma patients were dying in one to three years. In the United Kingdom — the home of QALY based care — my novel treatment protocol had not yet been approved under their national health plan due to cost concerns and the statistical likelihood of its limited extension of a patient’s life. If these rules had been in effect in the United States in early 2009, I probably would not have survived — and those that endorsed these theories would have surely been complicit in my premature death from cancer.” Click here to view the article.
2. ICER Opens National Call for Proposed Improvements to its Value Assessment Framework
According to a recent press release, “To inform a planned 2017 update to the methods that underpin its evidence reports on new drugs and other health care interventions, the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) is opening a national call for suggestions on how to improve its value assessment framework. We invite all interested parties to provide comments on the current ICER value framework, highlighting elements that are perceived to work well and others that should be re-examined. Where change is recommended, we are most hopeful of receiving specific proposals presenting alternative methods accompanied by arguments examining the potential advantages and disadvantages of multiple options. ICER will welcome comments though Monday, September 12th. We will use the suggestions received to guide internal review and further discussions with stakeholders, following which an updated version of the value framework will be finalized, announced, and used for ICER reports beginning in January 2017.” Click here to view the press release, including details on how to submit comments.
3. AHRQ: Guide to Improving Patient Safety in Primary Care Settings by Engaging Patients and Families
AHRQ: “Research shows that when patients are engaged in their health care, it can lead to measurable improvements in safety and quality. To promote stronger engagement, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) is developing a guide to help patients, families, and health professionals in primary care settings work together as partners to promote improvements in care. This ongoing project focuses on developing approaches to improve patient safety in primary care settings through the engagement of patients and families.” Click here for details on the project.
4. Joint Commission: Busting the Myths about Engaging Patients and Families in Patient Safety
As the Joint Commission explains, “Open and candid communication with patients and their families is a key component of safe and effective health care. However, communication between caregivers and patients is sometimes hindered by longstanding myths and misconceptions about the sharing of information. The Joint Commission, with input from its Patient and Family Advisory Council, has issued a white paper designed to dispel those myths and to help organizations design more effective communication practices.” Click here to view.
5. PCORI Board Approves $153 Million to Support Patient-Centered Comparative Clinical Effectiveness Research
According to a press release last week, “The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) Board of Governors today approved $152.8 million to fund 28 comparative clinical effectiveness research (CER) studies and seven related projects for improving CER methods. The funds will support studies of a range of conditions and problems that impose high burdens on patients, caregivers and the healthcare system… ‘These new projects reflect the best ideas of the research community for urgently needed research on topics prioritized with input from patients, family caregivers, clinicians, and other healthcare stakeholders,’ said PCORI Executive Director Joe Selby, MD, MPH. ‘The new studies expand our portfolio of patient-centered comparative effectiveness research that will produce vital evidence to address difficult questions on topics that matter most to patients.’” Click here to view the press release.
6. AHRQ Toolkit Helps Health Care Organizations and Providers Communicate With Patients and Families When Harm Occurs
Last week, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) released a new online toolkit to help hospital and health system leaders and clinicians communicate accurately and openly with patients and their families when something goes wrong with their care. “The toolkit will help expand use of an AHRQ-developed communication and resolution process called Communication and Optimal Resolution, or CANDOR, which gives hospitals and health systems the tools to respond immediately when a patient is harmed and to promote candid, empathetic communication and timely resolution for patients and caregivers.” Click here to view the online toolkit.
7. PCORI: Multiple Sclerosis Research Network Builds on Patient Input
On the PCORI Blog, Multiple Sclerosis advocates Robert McBurney and Laura Kolaczkowski comment, “One project already under way is the Multiple Sclerosis Patient-Powered Research Network (MS-PPRN), also called iConquerMS. This network serves as a bridge between people who have MS and researchers, helping patients ensure that research addresses their most pressing questions in order to improve care and outcomes.” Click here to view the blog post.
