In This Week’s Issue:
1. PCORI Board of Governors Approves Budget, Seeks Comment on Process for Peer Review, click here to view the press release and here for the slides. The Bloomberg article can be found here (subscription required).
2. PIPC Receives PCORI Response to Roundtable on Accountability for Patient Engagement, click here to view.
3. GAO Names New Members to PCORI Methodology Committee, click here to view the press release and biographies of the new members.
4. PCORI Blog: Patient-Centered Research as a Bridge Between IT and Better Health Care, click here to view the blog.
5. PCORI Blog: World Alzheimer's Month: Improving Prevention and Treatment, click here to view the full post.
6. JAMA: Guideline: New HCV Drugs Should Go to Sickest Patients, click here to view the full article.
7. The Pink Sheets Daily: Value-Based Formulary In Use At Premera Blue Cross After Successful Pilot, click here to view the article (subscription required).
8. AP: Summit Focuses on Health Cost Innovations, click here to view the article.
9. WSJ: Medical Calculators Use Big Data to Help Patients Make Choices, click here to view the article (subscription required).
1. PCORI Board of Governors Approves Budget, Seeks Comment on Process for Peer Review, click here to view the press release and here for the slides. The Bloomberg article can be found here (subscription required).
2. PIPC Receives PCORI Response to Roundtable on Accountability for Patient Engagement, click here to view.
3. GAO Names New Members to PCORI Methodology Committee, click here to view the press release and biographies of the new members.
4. PCORI Blog: Patient-Centered Research as a Bridge Between IT and Better Health Care, click here to view the blog.
5. PCORI Blog: World Alzheimer's Month: Improving Prevention and Treatment, click here to view the full post.
6. JAMA: Guideline: New HCV Drugs Should Go to Sickest Patients, click here to view the full article.
7. The Pink Sheets Daily: Value-Based Formulary In Use At Premera Blue Cross After Successful Pilot, click here to view the article (subscription required).
8. AP: Summit Focuses on Health Cost Innovations, click here to view the article.
9. WSJ: Medical Calculators Use Big Data to Help Patients Make Choices, click here to view the article (subscription required).
1. PCORI Board of Governors Approves Budget, Seeks Comment on Process for Peer Review
In a press release last week, PCORI announced that the “Board of Governors [approved for public comment] PCORI’s proposed process for peer review and public release of its primary research findings. The public comment period [ends] Friday, Nov. 7. The draft outlines how PCORI proposes to meet its legislative mandate to conduct peer review of the primary research it funds and make the findings publicly available within a specific timeframe. The effort is part of a broader "open science" framework that PCORI is developing to promote transparency and data sharing within the research community and the general public.” Click here to view the press release and here for the slides.
As reported last week in Bloomberg BNA, “[T]o increase public awareness of its peer-reviewed research, the report said, PCORI plans to collaborate closely with ‘[AHRQ], as outlined in our authorizing legislation.’ In addition, the group said it will work with ‘the community of healthcare stakeholders, both individuals and organizations, with whom we and our funded investigators have been engaged since early in PCORI's existence’ to distribute the group's research.” Click here to view the article (subscription required).
2. PIPC Receives PCORI Response to Roundtable on Accountability for Patient Engagement
In a letter to PIPC Chairman Tony Coelho, PCORI Executive Director Joe Selby stated, "PCORI appreciates the ongoing interest of both PIPC and Families USA in making certain that engagement and patient-centeredness are carefully evaluated and effectively implemented to improve relevance, quality and usefulness of healthcare research.” PCORI acknowledged it is moving toward a more targeted, stakeholder-driven agenda and portfolio, looking to improve topic solicitation activities, and acknowledged recommendations related to engagement of patient organizations. Click here to view the letter.
3. GAO Names New Members to PCORI Methodology Committee
Is a press release last Thursday, “The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), [announced] the appointment of three new members to the Methodology Committee of the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI). The Methodology Committee has the important job of assisting PCORI develop and update methodological standards and guidance for comparative clinical effectiveness research. “We had the opportunity to consider many distinguished applicants for positions on the committee and it is a pleasure to announce these exceptionally well-qualified new additions,” Dodaro said. The members appointed to the Methodology Committee are:
•Cynthia Girman, Dr.P.H., Distinguished Scientist, Comparative & Outcomes Evidence, Center for Observational & Real World Evidence, Merck Research Laboratories.
•Sally Morton, Ph.D., Professor and Chair, Department of Biostatistics, Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh.
•Neil Powe, MD, MPH, MBA, Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, and Chief of Medicine, San Francisco General Hospital.
Click here to view the press release and biographies of the new members.
4. PCORI Blog: Patient-Centered Research as a Bridge Between IT and Better Health Care
PCORI Associate Director of Science Sarah Greene contributed the following to the PCORI Blog last week, “PCORI's greatest venture into health IT is the creation of PCORnet, the National Patient-Centered Clinical Research Network. PCORnet will provide researchers with a large resource of data gathered in clinics and other real-world settings. To foster observational and experimental CER, PCORnet data will be stored in standardized, interoperable formats under rigorous security protocols and shared across the network using methods that ensure confidentiality.” Click here to view the blog.
In an additional blog post from PCORI’s Associate Director of Science Sarah Greene, “PCORI fully appreciates the enormous opportunities that health IT offers to advance our mission of supporting patient-centered comparative clinical effectiveness research (CER). So to mark National Health IT week, we'd like to showcase projects we support that take advantage of health IT, explore patient and caregivers attitudes toward — and use of — these technologies, and advance them.” Click here to view the column.
5. PCORI Blog: World Alzheimer's Month: Improving Prevention and Treatment
PCORI’s Chief Science Officer and Chief Engagement and Dissemination Officer Bryan Luce and Jean R. Slutsky, respectively, together wrote a blog post for the agency. “September marks World Alzheimer's Month, a time when national and local Alzheimer associations advance awareness of the disease through media outreach, screenings, and fundraising efforts...To provide better information to patients and those who care for them, PCORI is funding comparative clinical effectiveness research (CER) examining means of preventing and treating Alzheimer disease as well as supporting caregivers.” Click here to view the full post.
6. JAMA: Guideline: New HCV Drugs Should Go to Sickest Patients
Last week JAMA reported, “A recent review of the comparative evidence and cost-effectiveness of newer HCV therapies raised important questions about the value of these drugs to patients and the health system.[...] The approval of sofosbuvir and simeprevir last year offered patients hope of shorter, simpler treatment regimens and a cure rate greater than 80%. However, limited comparative effectiveness data are available for these 2 new drugs.” Click here to view the full article.
7. The Pink Sheets Daily: Value-Based Formulary In Use At Premera Blue Cross After Successful Pilot
Scott Steinke of The Pink Sheet Daily recently wrote, “Most plan formularies place drugs on a tier based on the drug's price rather than on its value to the patient. The concept of value-based cost-sharing is supported by the pharmaceutical industry as the nominal prices for drug products continue to climb and it has also been discussed by payers as a future goal. The National Pharmaceutical Council recently issued a report on how insurers can approach value-based cost-sharing.” Click here to view the article (subscription required).
8. AP: Summit Focuses on Health Cost Innovations
In the AP last week, “Insurers can cap what they'll pay for a colonoscopy, he said, or charge consumers less if they go to a lower-cost health system. In so-called ‘value-based insurance design,’ consumers would spend less on high-value services, such as help managing chronic conditions. ‘Value is not cheap,’ [Michael Chernew, professor of health care policy at Harvard Medical School] said. ‘Value is low dollar per health gain.’” Click here to view the article.
9. WSJ: Medical Calculators Use Big Data to Help Patients Make Choices
Laura Landro reported on an article for the Wall Street Journal, “Eric Weissman, 67, a semiretired nuclear physicist, had a prostate cancer surgery in 2002, but a decade later, his PSA started to rise again...‘As a scientist, I value highly decisions that are made on quantitative, precise information rather than just the art of a medical approach,’ Mr. Weissman says. While a doctor's experience is important, he says, it is ‘comforting’ to draw on statistics from a large pool of patients.” Click here to view the article (subscription required).
In a press release last week, PCORI announced that the “Board of Governors [approved for public comment] PCORI’s proposed process for peer review and public release of its primary research findings. The public comment period [ends] Friday, Nov. 7. The draft outlines how PCORI proposes to meet its legislative mandate to conduct peer review of the primary research it funds and make the findings publicly available within a specific timeframe. The effort is part of a broader "open science" framework that PCORI is developing to promote transparency and data sharing within the research community and the general public.” Click here to view the press release and here for the slides.
As reported last week in Bloomberg BNA, “[T]o increase public awareness of its peer-reviewed research, the report said, PCORI plans to collaborate closely with ‘[AHRQ], as outlined in our authorizing legislation.’ In addition, the group said it will work with ‘the community of healthcare stakeholders, both individuals and organizations, with whom we and our funded investigators have been engaged since early in PCORI's existence’ to distribute the group's research.” Click here to view the article (subscription required).
2. PIPC Receives PCORI Response to Roundtable on Accountability for Patient Engagement
In a letter to PIPC Chairman Tony Coelho, PCORI Executive Director Joe Selby stated, "PCORI appreciates the ongoing interest of both PIPC and Families USA in making certain that engagement and patient-centeredness are carefully evaluated and effectively implemented to improve relevance, quality and usefulness of healthcare research.” PCORI acknowledged it is moving toward a more targeted, stakeholder-driven agenda and portfolio, looking to improve topic solicitation activities, and acknowledged recommendations related to engagement of patient organizations. Click here to view the letter.
3. GAO Names New Members to PCORI Methodology Committee
Is a press release last Thursday, “The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), [announced] the appointment of three new members to the Methodology Committee of the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI). The Methodology Committee has the important job of assisting PCORI develop and update methodological standards and guidance for comparative clinical effectiveness research. “We had the opportunity to consider many distinguished applicants for positions on the committee and it is a pleasure to announce these exceptionally well-qualified new additions,” Dodaro said. The members appointed to the Methodology Committee are:
•Cynthia Girman, Dr.P.H., Distinguished Scientist, Comparative & Outcomes Evidence, Center for Observational & Real World Evidence, Merck Research Laboratories.
•Sally Morton, Ph.D., Professor and Chair, Department of Biostatistics, Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh.
•Neil Powe, MD, MPH, MBA, Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, and Chief of Medicine, San Francisco General Hospital.
Click here to view the press release and biographies of the new members.
4. PCORI Blog: Patient-Centered Research as a Bridge Between IT and Better Health Care
PCORI Associate Director of Science Sarah Greene contributed the following to the PCORI Blog last week, “PCORI's greatest venture into health IT is the creation of PCORnet, the National Patient-Centered Clinical Research Network. PCORnet will provide researchers with a large resource of data gathered in clinics and other real-world settings. To foster observational and experimental CER, PCORnet data will be stored in standardized, interoperable formats under rigorous security protocols and shared across the network using methods that ensure confidentiality.” Click here to view the blog.
In an additional blog post from PCORI’s Associate Director of Science Sarah Greene, “PCORI fully appreciates the enormous opportunities that health IT offers to advance our mission of supporting patient-centered comparative clinical effectiveness research (CER). So to mark National Health IT week, we'd like to showcase projects we support that take advantage of health IT, explore patient and caregivers attitudes toward — and use of — these technologies, and advance them.” Click here to view the column.
5. PCORI Blog: World Alzheimer's Month: Improving Prevention and Treatment
PCORI’s Chief Science Officer and Chief Engagement and Dissemination Officer Bryan Luce and Jean R. Slutsky, respectively, together wrote a blog post for the agency. “September marks World Alzheimer's Month, a time when national and local Alzheimer associations advance awareness of the disease through media outreach, screenings, and fundraising efforts...To provide better information to patients and those who care for them, PCORI is funding comparative clinical effectiveness research (CER) examining means of preventing and treating Alzheimer disease as well as supporting caregivers.” Click here to view the full post.
6. JAMA: Guideline: New HCV Drugs Should Go to Sickest Patients
Last week JAMA reported, “A recent review of the comparative evidence and cost-effectiveness of newer HCV therapies raised important questions about the value of these drugs to patients and the health system.[...] The approval of sofosbuvir and simeprevir last year offered patients hope of shorter, simpler treatment regimens and a cure rate greater than 80%. However, limited comparative effectiveness data are available for these 2 new drugs.” Click here to view the full article.
7. The Pink Sheets Daily: Value-Based Formulary In Use At Premera Blue Cross After Successful Pilot
Scott Steinke of The Pink Sheet Daily recently wrote, “Most plan formularies place drugs on a tier based on the drug's price rather than on its value to the patient. The concept of value-based cost-sharing is supported by the pharmaceutical industry as the nominal prices for drug products continue to climb and it has also been discussed by payers as a future goal. The National Pharmaceutical Council recently issued a report on how insurers can approach value-based cost-sharing.” Click here to view the article (subscription required).
8. AP: Summit Focuses on Health Cost Innovations
In the AP last week, “Insurers can cap what they'll pay for a colonoscopy, he said, or charge consumers less if they go to a lower-cost health system. In so-called ‘value-based insurance design,’ consumers would spend less on high-value services, such as help managing chronic conditions. ‘Value is not cheap,’ [Michael Chernew, professor of health care policy at Harvard Medical School] said. ‘Value is low dollar per health gain.’” Click here to view the article.
9. WSJ: Medical Calculators Use Big Data to Help Patients Make Choices
Laura Landro reported on an article for the Wall Street Journal, “Eric Weissman, 67, a semiretired nuclear physicist, had a prostate cancer surgery in 2002, but a decade later, his PSA started to rise again...‘As a scientist, I value highly decisions that are made on quantitative, precise information rather than just the art of a medical approach,’ Mr. Weissman says. While a doctor's experience is important, he says, it is ‘comforting’ to draw on statistics from a large pool of patients.” Click here to view the article (subscription required).
