1. Evidence-Based Medicine and the Newly Trained Physician: A Relationship in the Works, click here to view the article.
2. APA: Predictive Analytics and Big Data Hold Promise in Mood Disorders, click here to view the article.
3. Bipartisan Policy Center Pushes for Cost-Effectiveness Analysis, click here to view the report.
4. PCORI Commits $120 Million to New Patient-Centered Research, click here to view the article.
Dr. Brian Secemsky reported in The Huffington Post last week that “an updated definition of [Evidence Based Medicine (EBM)] has been suggested as a systematic approach to clinical problem-solving that allows the integration of the best available research evidence with clinical expertise and patient values. Although this is an important revision, as it puts the care of the individual patient as priority and incorporates clinical expertise into the mix, emerging physicians, by virtue of their limited patient experience, will often need to depend upon EBM to answer a variety of clinical questions… Despite EBM's role as an incredible advancement in the history of medical care and patient management, there remains many challenges that young clinicians must face when attempting to implement EBM into their respective practices. When advising workup and treatments to patients based on current clinical evidence, a new physician is often largely basing many of these recommendations on at least one high-quality study that demonstrated a clinical significant effect in a highly regulated clinical situation.” Click here to view the article.
2. APA: Predictive Analytics and Big Data Hold Promise in Mood Disorders
Debra Beck of Family Practice News reported last week that “the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Network (PCORnet.org) is ‘a game changer,’ said Dr. Nierenberg [of the American Psychiatric Association]. It is part of [PCORI], which is part of the Affordable Care Act... One part of PCORnet.org is the Patient-Powered Research Networks, including a mood-focused network, moodnetwork.org. ‘It allows the patients to choose how they want to be monitored, through self-report, but also gives them a voice in prioritizing research and research questions.’ A goal is to transform research and mood disorder care by creating an infrastructure for both research and clinicians wanting to follow their patients and through prospective comparative effectiveness trials embedded within routine care.” Click here to view the article.
As detailed further in an analogous report in Healio, “As is the case with many medical specialties and subspecialties, psychiatry and mood disorder treatment will become increasingly focused on harnessing big data. Nierenberg said there are many programs currently being developed with that goal in mind. Patient communities, patient/practitioner collaborative networks and patient support websites and apps are only a few of the resources now underway. He discussed patient communities such as Patients Like Me and emotional health networks such as Big White Wall, which connect patient communities. Additionally, there is the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute, which is part of the Affordable Care Act, and its associated patient resource, the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Network.” Click here to view the article.
3. Bipartisan Policy Center Pushes for Cost-Effectiveness Analysis
According to a recent article in CQ HealthBeat, “the Bipartisan Policy Center [has] issued a call for greater use of economic analysis in making health care decisions, a move that could reinvigorate debate about cost-effectiveness research. In a new report, the nonprofit center's Prevention Task Force recommended that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health include a requirement for cost-effectiveness analysis in grant applications. The recommendation is included in a package of proposals that are meant to shift the American medical system away from its longstanding fee-for-service approach, which is seen as a culprit in driving up costs while often doing a poor job in preserving or improving people's health. ‘These recommendations will help develop new financing mechanisms and integrated programs and services that will shift America’s health care system toward disease prevention and wellness,’ said former Senate Majority Leader, Bill Frist, a doctor who serves as an adviser to the center's Prevention Task Force.” Click here to view the report.
4. PCORI Commits $120 Million to New Patient-Centered Research
As Government Health IT reported last week, “the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) board of governors is designating more than $120 million to fund 34 studies on a range of conditions and patient populations. The funding includes more than $58 million for five pragmatic clinical studies focusing on that research about radiation therapy for breast cancer, fractures in older adults, and treatments for children with bipolar disorder and Crohn's disease, according an announcement… In addition, PCORI recently awarded more than $4 million for two studies to advance health care communication. Research on how best to communicate about treatment options is considered by many as vital because as the number of healthcare options grows, so does the need for patients and their clinicians to have useful information about what works best to help them make fully informed decisions.” Click here to view the article.
Health Imaging also reported specifically on the Institute’s proton beam therapy study, adding that “PCORI will contribute $11.8 million to fund a study evaluating the effectiveness of new proton beam therapy for treating breast cancer as part of the institute’s initiative to support pragmatic clinical studies… The study is part of a broad funding package from PCORI that will see more than $120 million dedicated to 34 patient centered clinic comparative clinical effectiveness research studies. Other major project included in the 2015 funding announcement include studies focused on diabetes, children with Crohn’s disease and hip fracture surgical treatments in older adults.” Click here to view the article.