The San Jose Mercury News recently published an article on the promise - and the concerns - of comparative effectiveness research as overseen by the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI):
"Critics said they fear [comparative effectiveness] research could lead to health care rationing if the government uses the results to ax effective treatments simply because they cost too much. To address such criticisms, legislation discouraged the new institute from doing cost comparisons. That has erased many of the concerns initially raised by groups such as the Partnership to Improve Patient Care, a private organization formed in 2008 that includes representatives of drug manufacturers, device-makers and patient groups. Now the group's chairman, former Rep. Tony Coelho, a Democrat who represented the San Joaquin Valley area, said he wants to make sure that patients are involved in the new institute's decision-making and that doctors and patients can understand the research findings."
"Critics said they fear [comparative effectiveness] research could lead to health care rationing if the government uses the results to ax effective treatments simply because they cost too much. To address such criticisms, legislation discouraged the new institute from doing cost comparisons. That has erased many of the concerns initially raised by groups such as the Partnership to Improve Patient Care, a private organization formed in 2008 that includes representatives of drug manufacturers, device-makers and patient groups. Now the group's chairman, former Rep. Tony Coelho, a Democrat who represented the San Joaquin Valley area, said he wants to make sure that patients are involved in the new institute's decision-making and that doctors and patients can understand the research findings."
