In This Week’s Issue:
1. PIPC: Statement on GAO Report on CER, click here to view the statement.
2. AJMC: GAO Finds Much Work Remains for CER Dissemination, click here to view the full article.
3. Fierce Health IT: Improvements Needed in Dissemination of Clinical Effectiveness Research, click here to view the full article.
4. M-CERSI Conference on Patient-Focused Drug Development, additional information can be found here.
5. PCORI: Reducing the Burden of Kidney Disease, click here to view the full blog.
6. Healthcare Informatics: Digging Out of a Hole: The Two Sides of Patient Engagement, click here to view the full article.
7. PCORI: Putting Research to Work for Individual Patients, click here to view the full blog.
8. New York Times: If Patients Only Knew How Often Treatments Could Harm Them, click here to view the full blog.
9. AHRQ Research Conference Returns in 2015, click here for details.
10. Medical Journal Articles, see details below.
11. AHRQ Effective Program Updates, see details below.
1. PIPC: Statement on GAO Report on CER, click here to view the statement.
2. AJMC: GAO Finds Much Work Remains for CER Dissemination, click here to view the full article.
3. Fierce Health IT: Improvements Needed in Dissemination of Clinical Effectiveness Research, click here to view the full article.
4. M-CERSI Conference on Patient-Focused Drug Development, additional information can be found here.
5. PCORI: Reducing the Burden of Kidney Disease, click here to view the full blog.
6. Healthcare Informatics: Digging Out of a Hole: The Two Sides of Patient Engagement, click here to view the full article.
7. PCORI: Putting Research to Work for Individual Patients, click here to view the full blog.
8. New York Times: If Patients Only Knew How Often Treatments Could Harm Them, click here to view the full blog.
9. AHRQ Research Conference Returns in 2015, click here for details.
10. Medical Journal Articles, see details below.
11. AHRQ Effective Program Updates, see details below.
1. PIPC: Statement on GAO Report on CER
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report yesterday entitled, “Comparative Effectiveness Research: HHS Needs to Strengthen Dissemination and Data-Capacity-Building Efforts.” The Chairman of the Partnership to Improve Patient Care (PIPC), former Congressman Tony Coelho, provided the following response to the report’s findings and recommendations:
“PIPC is pleased that GAO has evaluated some of the key issues in HHS’ use of comparative effectiveness research (CER) funds, particularly related to dissemination of research findings. The report highlights some of the same issues that PIPC has identified with AHRQ's CER dissemination activities, and the critical need for the agency to establish a strategic plan, standards, and procedures to advance new, patient-centered approaches to CER dissemination.
In a White Paper developed by PIPC in October 2013, we highlighted that the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) appeared to be using funds from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Trust Fund to support its existing dissemination programs, rather than defining new, more effective programs for communicating results to patients and clinicians. PIPC convened a roundtable with patient representatives and clinicians in June, 2014, where participants raised significant concerns about the quality of the information going into AHRQ’s decisions aids, and AHRQ’s effectiveness in disseminating those decision aids into the community. In addition, the PIPC roundtable participants strongly recommended that AHRQ use PCOR Trust fund dollars to test dissemination strategies that differ from their existing comparative effectiveness program so that they address the patient-centered principles outlined in their statutory guidance and better engage the communities that benefit from the information provided. PIPC is hopeful that the GAO report will provide impetus for implementation of some of these recommendations, such as creation of standards for patient-centeredness in CER dissemination, and establishment of a patient and clinician advisory committee and other mechanisms to gain input from patients throughout the process. The time is now to move beyond conventional, one-size-fits-all dissemination strategies and adopt new approaches that allow patients and clinicians to be engaged as advisors to disseminate specific information, and to be partners in tailoring and presenting it in a useable manner. PIPC looks forward to being engaged in an effort to do something different so that our healthcare system empowers patients in their own health care decisions, as was the intent of the statute." Click here to view the statement
2. AJMC: GAO Finds Much Work Remains for CER Dissemination
Also commenting on the GAO report, Laura Joszt of The American Journal of Managed Care said, “CER could help patients and providers make better healthcare decisions by providing more complete clinical information; however, the availability of this information remains limited. ‘Disseminating CER in a timely manner is particularly challenging given the length of time and uncertainty inherent in applying research findings to help improve health care practice,’ the authors of the [GAO] report wrote.” Click here to view the full article.
3. Fierce Health IT: Improvements Needed in Dissemination of Clinical Effectiveness Research
Susan D. Hall of Fierce Health IT wrote about the same report, “[W]hile HHS has coordinated various agencies to build data capacity for CER, its approach is not effective because it lacks defined objectives, milestones and time frames, the [GAO] report's authors add. Better timing and coordination are necessary to prevent duplication and effective use of resources in working together with other projects such as the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) PCORnet initiative.” Click here to view the full article.
4. M-CERSI Conference on Patient-Focused Drug Development
The M-CERSI Conference on Patient-Focused Drug Development (PFDD) will be held on Today, March 9, 2015 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Bethesda, MD. Patients, caregivers, and patient-advocacy groups, as well as regulators from the Food and Drug Administration; researchers from academia, industry, and other agencies; payers; and other stakeholders will come together to discuss the definition of PFDD, essential components for a successful PFDD, current related initiatives, challenges, and recommendations on a plan of action. Registration is free, but required. Additional information can be found here.
5. PCORI: Reducing the Burden of Kidney Disease
Early last week in the PCORI Blog, David Hickam, Science Program Director, commented “PCORI is funding a wide variety of studies to learn how to reduce the burden of kidney disease on patients and those who care for them. We are working in conjunction with patient organizations, including the National Kidney Foundation (NKF), which has helped recruit patients for one of the studies we fund. NKF's Tonya Saffer says that the foundation is pleased to see PCORI funding research on kidney disease, and especially appreciates our focus on directly involving patients and patient organizations in preparing proposals and carrying out projects.” Click here to view the full blog
6. Healthcare Informatics: Digging Out of a Hole: The Two Sides of Patient Engagement
Writing for Healthcare Informatics, Gabriel Perna reported, “The federal government is heavily pushing the path to patient-centered care, making this even more of a necessity for providers. It's all over various policy measures, with it being referenced in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) specifically 36 times. It's also in meaningful use, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' (CMS) Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) funded research, Hospital and Physician Compare, and the Veterans Administration. Much of this comes from value-based reimbursement models, which reimburse based on quality outcomes.” Click here to view the full article.
7. PCORI: Putting Research to Work for Individual Patients
During the snowstorm that hit the mid-Atlantic last week, Emily Evans, and Katherine McQueston, Science Program Officer and Program Associate, respectively, said in The PCORI Blog, “[PCORI’s] authorizing legislation requires us to study the effects of health interventions for different patient subpopulations. This is known as research on the heterogeneity of treatment effects (HTE), and we consider it an essential component of the patient-centered comparative clinical effectiveness research (CER) we support. The results of HTE analyses can be used to develop care programs designed to provide the treatment most likely to be effective for a particular patient—a step toward personalized medicine.” Click here to view the full blog.
8. New York Times: If Patients Only Knew How Often Treatments Could Harm Them
Austin Frakt and Aaron E. Carroll of The New York Times’ blog, The Upshot, said this last week, “If we knew more, would we opt for different kinds and amounts of health care? Despite the existence of metrics to help patients appreciate benefits and harms, a new systematic review suggests that our expectations are not consistent with the facts. Most patients overestimate the benefits of medical treatments, and underestimate the harms; because of that, they use more care.” Click here to view the full blog.
9. AHRQ Research Conference Returns in 2015
AHRQ’s research conference, held annually from 2007 to 2012, will make a return engagement in 2015. The conference is scheduled for October 4–6 at the Crystal Gateway Marriott Hotel and Convention Center in Crystal City, Virginia. AcademyHealth will join AHRQ in hosting the conference, which will bring together experts in health care research and policy to participate in sessions focused on addressing today’s challenges in improving quality, safety, access and value in health care. In addition, AHRQ and AcademyHealth will team with the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) to hold sessions on October 6 as part of the AHRQ conference as well as PCORI’s first annual meeting October 6–8, which also will be held at the Crystal Gateway Marriott. These sessions will address key issues in dissemination and implementation of patient-centered outcomes research. Mark your calendars; information about submitting abstracts, registration, the conference agenda and more will be coming soon. Click here for details.
10. Medical Journal Articles
Futurescapes: Evidence Expectations in the USA for Comparative Effectiveness Research for Drugs in 2020: Click here to view.
The Future of Comparative Effectiveness and Relative Efficacy of Drugs: An International Perspective: Click here to view.
Paclitaxel Plus Carboplatin Versus Paclitaxel Plus Cisplatin in Metastatic or Recurrent Cervical Cancer: The Open-Label Randomized Phase III Trial JCOG0505: Click here to view.
Viewpoint: Varieties of Standard-of-Care Treatment Randomized Trials: Ethical Implications: Click here to view.
Addressing Missing Data in Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMS): Implications for the Use of PROMS for Comparing Provider Performance: Click here to view.
Comparison of Direct and Indirect Costs of Abnormal Uterine Bleeding Treatment with Global Endometrial Ablation and Hysterectomy: Click here to view.
Comparative Effectiveness of Injectable Paliperidone Palmitate Versus Oral Atypical Antipsychotics: Early Postmarketing Evidence: Click here to view.
11. AHRQ Effective Program Updates
Behavioral Programs for Diabetes Mellitus: Click here to comment before March 26, 2015.
Public Reporting of Cost Measures in Health: Click here to view the final report.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report yesterday entitled, “Comparative Effectiveness Research: HHS Needs to Strengthen Dissemination and Data-Capacity-Building Efforts.” The Chairman of the Partnership to Improve Patient Care (PIPC), former Congressman Tony Coelho, provided the following response to the report’s findings and recommendations:
“PIPC is pleased that GAO has evaluated some of the key issues in HHS’ use of comparative effectiveness research (CER) funds, particularly related to dissemination of research findings. The report highlights some of the same issues that PIPC has identified with AHRQ's CER dissemination activities, and the critical need for the agency to establish a strategic plan, standards, and procedures to advance new, patient-centered approaches to CER dissemination.
In a White Paper developed by PIPC in October 2013, we highlighted that the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) appeared to be using funds from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Trust Fund to support its existing dissemination programs, rather than defining new, more effective programs for communicating results to patients and clinicians. PIPC convened a roundtable with patient representatives and clinicians in June, 2014, where participants raised significant concerns about the quality of the information going into AHRQ’s decisions aids, and AHRQ’s effectiveness in disseminating those decision aids into the community. In addition, the PIPC roundtable participants strongly recommended that AHRQ use PCOR Trust fund dollars to test dissemination strategies that differ from their existing comparative effectiveness program so that they address the patient-centered principles outlined in their statutory guidance and better engage the communities that benefit from the information provided. PIPC is hopeful that the GAO report will provide impetus for implementation of some of these recommendations, such as creation of standards for patient-centeredness in CER dissemination, and establishment of a patient and clinician advisory committee and other mechanisms to gain input from patients throughout the process. The time is now to move beyond conventional, one-size-fits-all dissemination strategies and adopt new approaches that allow patients and clinicians to be engaged as advisors to disseminate specific information, and to be partners in tailoring and presenting it in a useable manner. PIPC looks forward to being engaged in an effort to do something different so that our healthcare system empowers patients in their own health care decisions, as was the intent of the statute." Click here to view the statement
2. AJMC: GAO Finds Much Work Remains for CER Dissemination
Also commenting on the GAO report, Laura Joszt of The American Journal of Managed Care said, “CER could help patients and providers make better healthcare decisions by providing more complete clinical information; however, the availability of this information remains limited. ‘Disseminating CER in a timely manner is particularly challenging given the length of time and uncertainty inherent in applying research findings to help improve health care practice,’ the authors of the [GAO] report wrote.” Click here to view the full article.
3. Fierce Health IT: Improvements Needed in Dissemination of Clinical Effectiveness Research
Susan D. Hall of Fierce Health IT wrote about the same report, “[W]hile HHS has coordinated various agencies to build data capacity for CER, its approach is not effective because it lacks defined objectives, milestones and time frames, the [GAO] report's authors add. Better timing and coordination are necessary to prevent duplication and effective use of resources in working together with other projects such as the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) PCORnet initiative.” Click here to view the full article.
4. M-CERSI Conference on Patient-Focused Drug Development
The M-CERSI Conference on Patient-Focused Drug Development (PFDD) will be held on Today, March 9, 2015 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Bethesda, MD. Patients, caregivers, and patient-advocacy groups, as well as regulators from the Food and Drug Administration; researchers from academia, industry, and other agencies; payers; and other stakeholders will come together to discuss the definition of PFDD, essential components for a successful PFDD, current related initiatives, challenges, and recommendations on a plan of action. Registration is free, but required. Additional information can be found here.
5. PCORI: Reducing the Burden of Kidney Disease
Early last week in the PCORI Blog, David Hickam, Science Program Director, commented “PCORI is funding a wide variety of studies to learn how to reduce the burden of kidney disease on patients and those who care for them. We are working in conjunction with patient organizations, including the National Kidney Foundation (NKF), which has helped recruit patients for one of the studies we fund. NKF's Tonya Saffer says that the foundation is pleased to see PCORI funding research on kidney disease, and especially appreciates our focus on directly involving patients and patient organizations in preparing proposals and carrying out projects.” Click here to view the full blog
6. Healthcare Informatics: Digging Out of a Hole: The Two Sides of Patient Engagement
Writing for Healthcare Informatics, Gabriel Perna reported, “The federal government is heavily pushing the path to patient-centered care, making this even more of a necessity for providers. It's all over various policy measures, with it being referenced in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) specifically 36 times. It's also in meaningful use, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' (CMS) Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) funded research, Hospital and Physician Compare, and the Veterans Administration. Much of this comes from value-based reimbursement models, which reimburse based on quality outcomes.” Click here to view the full article.
7. PCORI: Putting Research to Work for Individual Patients
During the snowstorm that hit the mid-Atlantic last week, Emily Evans, and Katherine McQueston, Science Program Officer and Program Associate, respectively, said in The PCORI Blog, “[PCORI’s] authorizing legislation requires us to study the effects of health interventions for different patient subpopulations. This is known as research on the heterogeneity of treatment effects (HTE), and we consider it an essential component of the patient-centered comparative clinical effectiveness research (CER) we support. The results of HTE analyses can be used to develop care programs designed to provide the treatment most likely to be effective for a particular patient—a step toward personalized medicine.” Click here to view the full blog.
8. New York Times: If Patients Only Knew How Often Treatments Could Harm Them
Austin Frakt and Aaron E. Carroll of The New York Times’ blog, The Upshot, said this last week, “If we knew more, would we opt for different kinds and amounts of health care? Despite the existence of metrics to help patients appreciate benefits and harms, a new systematic review suggests that our expectations are not consistent with the facts. Most patients overestimate the benefits of medical treatments, and underestimate the harms; because of that, they use more care.” Click here to view the full blog.
9. AHRQ Research Conference Returns in 2015
AHRQ’s research conference, held annually from 2007 to 2012, will make a return engagement in 2015. The conference is scheduled for October 4–6 at the Crystal Gateway Marriott Hotel and Convention Center in Crystal City, Virginia. AcademyHealth will join AHRQ in hosting the conference, which will bring together experts in health care research and policy to participate in sessions focused on addressing today’s challenges in improving quality, safety, access and value in health care. In addition, AHRQ and AcademyHealth will team with the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) to hold sessions on October 6 as part of the AHRQ conference as well as PCORI’s first annual meeting October 6–8, which also will be held at the Crystal Gateway Marriott. These sessions will address key issues in dissemination and implementation of patient-centered outcomes research. Mark your calendars; information about submitting abstracts, registration, the conference agenda and more will be coming soon. Click here for details.
10. Medical Journal Articles
Futurescapes: Evidence Expectations in the USA for Comparative Effectiveness Research for Drugs in 2020: Click here to view.
The Future of Comparative Effectiveness and Relative Efficacy of Drugs: An International Perspective: Click here to view.
Paclitaxel Plus Carboplatin Versus Paclitaxel Plus Cisplatin in Metastatic or Recurrent Cervical Cancer: The Open-Label Randomized Phase III Trial JCOG0505: Click here to view.
Viewpoint: Varieties of Standard-of-Care Treatment Randomized Trials: Ethical Implications: Click here to view.
Addressing Missing Data in Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMS): Implications for the Use of PROMS for Comparing Provider Performance: Click here to view.
Comparison of Direct and Indirect Costs of Abnormal Uterine Bleeding Treatment with Global Endometrial Ablation and Hysterectomy: Click here to view.
Comparative Effectiveness of Injectable Paliperidone Palmitate Versus Oral Atypical Antipsychotics: Early Postmarketing Evidence: Click here to view.
11. AHRQ Effective Program Updates
Behavioral Programs for Diabetes Mellitus: Click here to comment before March 26, 2015.
Public Reporting of Cost Measures in Health: Click here to view the final report.
