In This Week’s Issue:
1. TODAY: Join National Health Council at a Symposium to Explore Production of Useful CER Evidence, click here for additional information, and to register for the event.
2. PIPC's Executive Director Participates in PCORI Stakeholder Engagement Panel, click here and here to view the slides presented by PCORI.
3. PCORI Board of Governors Meets in Washington, DC, see details below
4. PCORI Seeks Applications for Improving Healthcare Systems – December 2013 Cycle, click here for additional information on how to apply.
5. PCORI Blog: PCORI: Three Years of Progress and a Foundation for the Future, click here to view the blog post.
6. NEJM: Exchanges Could Create Incentives for Insurers to Encourage Application of CER Findings, click here to view the article.
1. TODAY: Join National Health Council at a Symposium to Explore Production of Useful CER Evidence, click here for additional information, and to register for the event.
2. PIPC's Executive Director Participates in PCORI Stakeholder Engagement Panel, click here and here to view the slides presented by PCORI.
3. PCORI Board of Governors Meets in Washington, DC, see details below
4. PCORI Seeks Applications for Improving Healthcare Systems – December 2013 Cycle, click here for additional information on how to apply.
5. PCORI Blog: PCORI: Three Years of Progress and a Foundation for the Future, click here to view the blog post.
6. NEJM: Exchanges Could Create Incentives for Insurers to Encourage Application of CER Findings, click here to view the article.
1. TODAY: Join National Health Council at a Symposium to Explore Production of Useful CER Evidence
PIPC Chairman Coelho urges you to join a conversation on ways to guide the development of the evolving field of comparative effectiveness research (CER), evaluate its results, and communicate the findings at "Putting Patients First: Paving a Path to Useful CER," a symposium sponsored by both the National Health Council (NHC) and the National Pharmaceutical Council (NPC) and co-sponsored by PCORI and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. The event will be held at the W Hotel in Washington, D.C. on Monday, Sept. 30.
PIPC was pleased to participate in a prior roundtable discussion where roundtable participants urged a framework for evaluating usability criteria that ensured it is trustworthy, translatable and meaningful - all key priorities for research that truly is patient-centered. As the research funded by PCORI moves closer to producing tangible results, this symposium provides the patient community an opportunity to engage in discussions to answer two essential questions:
• How should these results be used to benefit the populations and individuals who, historically, have been disenfranchised by the research?
• How can we assure that patient-centered outcomes research/CER improves clinical care and provides an improved pathway to more inclusive and diverse health care research and innovation?
We hope you will consider reserving a spot at the event. Stakeholders in CER – including patient groups, policymakers, investigators, and sponsors of research – will engage in a dialogue on the development, evaluation and communication of research results. The symposium will address the development of a CER usability criteria framework proposed by the NHC and based on research by Avalere Health. Click here for additional information, and to register for the event.
2. PIPC's Executive Director Participates in PCORI Stakeholder Engagement Panel
PIPC Executive Director Sara van Geertruyden participated in the PCORI Patient Engagement Panel meeting on September 20-21, 2013. The panel discussed several issues of importance to PIPC members. In summary, panel members emphasized the need for ensuring that funded research questions were actually priorities for the affected patient community, and that real and meaningful engagement with the affected patient community was part of the research process. PCORI also proposed an "Ambassador Program" to increase awareness of PCORI's work, and panels members urged PCORI to further consider the message carried by such ambassadors and their purpose in the PCORI research process. The panel provided feedback to PCORI on its upcoming Pipeline to Proposals program, noting that the real opportunity is for patients and providers to drive collaborations with research partners. There was a strong emphasis from panel members on the need for PCORI to work with patients and provider communities in the development of a dissemination action plan, and that dissemination plans should be tailored to the individual research project in collaboration with the impacted community of patients and their providers. The panel also had an opportunity to discuss the development of usability criteria that would ensure research ultimately can be used by patients and providers at the point of care. Click here and here to view the slides presented by PCORI.
3. PCORI Board of Governors Meets in Washington, DC
The PCORI Board of Governors met on Monday September 23, 2013 in Washington, DC. There were a few consistent themes expressed by PCORI Board members throughout the day. First, Board members discussed the breadth of advisory panels, noting that the purpose expressed in statute for advisory panels was to capture the expertise of patients and providers on specific research projects and priorities. A second theme was preventing duplication in PCORI's work with work already being conducted by the PCORI Methodology Committee or other government agencies. Third, there was significant support for a shift from broad funding announcements to targeted funding announcements, and support for a process by which research questions are being accurately identified as the questions that reflect the needs of patients and providers at the point of care. PIPC Executive Director Sara van Geertruyden highlighted to the Board during the comment period the recommendations provided to PCORI by a roundtable of people with disabilities. She emphasized that the real opportunity at PCORI is bringing together patients, providers, and caregivers to harness the gaps in knowledge they are seeking at the point of care, and changing the culture of research so that they are accountable for developing research projects out of the research needs identified by patients and providers. Materials from last week’s Board meeting are available below:
• Executive Director’s Report
• Clinical Trials Advisory Panel
• Advisory Panel on Clinical Trials Proposed Charter
• PCORI Research Portfolio
• Dissemination and Implementation
• Engagement Awards
• PCORI Methodology Committee Update
• Operations Report
• PCORI-Funded Research Team Presentations
4. PCORI Seeks Applications for Improving Healthcare Systems – December 2013 Cycle
The Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) is seeking applications to study the comparative effectiveness of alternate features of healthcare systems (e.g., innovative information technologies, personnel deployments, incentives, service designs, etc.) designed to optimize the quality, outcomes, and/or efficiency of care for the patients they serve. PCORI seeks studies that will provide information of value to patients, their caregivers and clinicians, as well as to healthcare leaders, regarding which features of systems lead to better patient-centered outcomes. Letters of Intent are due by October 15, 2013. Click here for additional information on how to apply.
5. PCORI Blog: PCORI: Three Years of Progress and a Foundation for the Future
In a post on The PCORI Blog, PCORI Executive Director Joe Selby comments, “We're now entering what will be not only our most intense and focused period of research investment but a time that will see our funded investigators start to report to the healthcare community the initial results of the work we've supported so far. We expect to start seeing the results of our Pilot Projects by mid-2014 and of our first round of primary research studies about 18 months after that. A critical next step is working with our stakeholder partners in disseminating our research findings – when these findings merit dissemination.” Click here to view the blog post.
6. NEJM: Exchanges Could Create Incentives for Insurers to Encourage Application of CER Findings
The New England Journal of Medicine recently published an opinion piece from Dr. Henry J. Aaron, and Kevin Lucia, J.D., M.H.P., in which the authors comment, “The quantity and quality of information on the prices charged by different hospitals, physicians, and other providers and the availability of data on the quality of care are improving. Exchanges could advertise such information to help consumers make more informed choices or, more aggressively, could require plans to offer incentives for people to use high-quality, low-cost health care services and providers. Exchanges could also create incentives for insurers to encourage or require providers to apply research findings from analyses of comparative effectiveness.” Click here to view the article.
7. Charleston Gazette: Payer Centered or Patient Centered
Dr. James D. Felsen, a retired public health physician, concluded in an opinion piece, "I am a strong supporter of comparative effectiveness research, evidence based medicine, standardized guidelines and other tools to enhance the 'science' of medicine. However, if the 'art' is lost by denying physicians the requisite professional judgment and flexibility, patients will suffer. One of the greatest physicians Sir William Osler, said it best, 'The good physician knows the disease the patient has; the great physician knows the patient who has the disease.' That is not Inspector #37." Click here to view the article.
PIPC Chairman Coelho urges you to join a conversation on ways to guide the development of the evolving field of comparative effectiveness research (CER), evaluate its results, and communicate the findings at "Putting Patients First: Paving a Path to Useful CER," a symposium sponsored by both the National Health Council (NHC) and the National Pharmaceutical Council (NPC) and co-sponsored by PCORI and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. The event will be held at the W Hotel in Washington, D.C. on Monday, Sept. 30.
PIPC was pleased to participate in a prior roundtable discussion where roundtable participants urged a framework for evaluating usability criteria that ensured it is trustworthy, translatable and meaningful - all key priorities for research that truly is patient-centered. As the research funded by PCORI moves closer to producing tangible results, this symposium provides the patient community an opportunity to engage in discussions to answer two essential questions:
• How should these results be used to benefit the populations and individuals who, historically, have been disenfranchised by the research?
• How can we assure that patient-centered outcomes research/CER improves clinical care and provides an improved pathway to more inclusive and diverse health care research and innovation?
We hope you will consider reserving a spot at the event. Stakeholders in CER – including patient groups, policymakers, investigators, and sponsors of research – will engage in a dialogue on the development, evaluation and communication of research results. The symposium will address the development of a CER usability criteria framework proposed by the NHC and based on research by Avalere Health. Click here for additional information, and to register for the event.
2. PIPC's Executive Director Participates in PCORI Stakeholder Engagement Panel
PIPC Executive Director Sara van Geertruyden participated in the PCORI Patient Engagement Panel meeting on September 20-21, 2013. The panel discussed several issues of importance to PIPC members. In summary, panel members emphasized the need for ensuring that funded research questions were actually priorities for the affected patient community, and that real and meaningful engagement with the affected patient community was part of the research process. PCORI also proposed an "Ambassador Program" to increase awareness of PCORI's work, and panels members urged PCORI to further consider the message carried by such ambassadors and their purpose in the PCORI research process. The panel provided feedback to PCORI on its upcoming Pipeline to Proposals program, noting that the real opportunity is for patients and providers to drive collaborations with research partners. There was a strong emphasis from panel members on the need for PCORI to work with patients and provider communities in the development of a dissemination action plan, and that dissemination plans should be tailored to the individual research project in collaboration with the impacted community of patients and their providers. The panel also had an opportunity to discuss the development of usability criteria that would ensure research ultimately can be used by patients and providers at the point of care. Click here and here to view the slides presented by PCORI.
3. PCORI Board of Governors Meets in Washington, DC
The PCORI Board of Governors met on Monday September 23, 2013 in Washington, DC. There were a few consistent themes expressed by PCORI Board members throughout the day. First, Board members discussed the breadth of advisory panels, noting that the purpose expressed in statute for advisory panels was to capture the expertise of patients and providers on specific research projects and priorities. A second theme was preventing duplication in PCORI's work with work already being conducted by the PCORI Methodology Committee or other government agencies. Third, there was significant support for a shift from broad funding announcements to targeted funding announcements, and support for a process by which research questions are being accurately identified as the questions that reflect the needs of patients and providers at the point of care. PIPC Executive Director Sara van Geertruyden highlighted to the Board during the comment period the recommendations provided to PCORI by a roundtable of people with disabilities. She emphasized that the real opportunity at PCORI is bringing together patients, providers, and caregivers to harness the gaps in knowledge they are seeking at the point of care, and changing the culture of research so that they are accountable for developing research projects out of the research needs identified by patients and providers. Materials from last week’s Board meeting are available below:
• Executive Director’s Report
• Clinical Trials Advisory Panel
• Advisory Panel on Clinical Trials Proposed Charter
• PCORI Research Portfolio
• Dissemination and Implementation
• Engagement Awards
• PCORI Methodology Committee Update
• Operations Report
• PCORI-Funded Research Team Presentations
4. PCORI Seeks Applications for Improving Healthcare Systems – December 2013 Cycle
The Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) is seeking applications to study the comparative effectiveness of alternate features of healthcare systems (e.g., innovative information technologies, personnel deployments, incentives, service designs, etc.) designed to optimize the quality, outcomes, and/or efficiency of care for the patients they serve. PCORI seeks studies that will provide information of value to patients, their caregivers and clinicians, as well as to healthcare leaders, regarding which features of systems lead to better patient-centered outcomes. Letters of Intent are due by October 15, 2013. Click here for additional information on how to apply.
5. PCORI Blog: PCORI: Three Years of Progress and a Foundation for the Future
In a post on The PCORI Blog, PCORI Executive Director Joe Selby comments, “We're now entering what will be not only our most intense and focused period of research investment but a time that will see our funded investigators start to report to the healthcare community the initial results of the work we've supported so far. We expect to start seeing the results of our Pilot Projects by mid-2014 and of our first round of primary research studies about 18 months after that. A critical next step is working with our stakeholder partners in disseminating our research findings – when these findings merit dissemination.” Click here to view the blog post.
6. NEJM: Exchanges Could Create Incentives for Insurers to Encourage Application of CER Findings
The New England Journal of Medicine recently published an opinion piece from Dr. Henry J. Aaron, and Kevin Lucia, J.D., M.H.P., in which the authors comment, “The quantity and quality of information on the prices charged by different hospitals, physicians, and other providers and the availability of data on the quality of care are improving. Exchanges could advertise such information to help consumers make more informed choices or, more aggressively, could require plans to offer incentives for people to use high-quality, low-cost health care services and providers. Exchanges could also create incentives for insurers to encourage or require providers to apply research findings from analyses of comparative effectiveness.” Click here to view the article.
7. Charleston Gazette: Payer Centered or Patient Centered
Dr. James D. Felsen, a retired public health physician, concluded in an opinion piece, "I am a strong supporter of comparative effectiveness research, evidence based medicine, standardized guidelines and other tools to enhance the 'science' of medicine. However, if the 'art' is lost by denying physicians the requisite professional judgment and flexibility, patients will suffer. One of the greatest physicians Sir William Osler, said it best, 'The good physician knows the disease the patient has; the great physician knows the patient who has the disease.' That is not Inspector #37." Click here to view the article.
