In This Week’s Issue:
1. PCORI Board Approves Slates for Clinical Trials and Rare Disease Advisory Panels, click here for the full recap, here for the PCORI press release of rare disease panel, and here for the PCORI press release on the clinical trials advisory panel.
2. U.S. Chamber of Commerce Discusses Recommendations on Transparency, click here to view the report.
3. Health Affairs: PCORI’s Research Will Answer Patients’ Real-World Questions, click here for the full post.
4. PCORI Blog: New Challenge: An App to Build Research Partnerships, click here for the full blog post.
5. Washington Post: A Common Problem Few Women Want To Talk About: Fibroids Cause More Than Just Pain, click here for the full article.
6. GAO Seeks Nominations for PCORI Methodology Committee, click here to see the press release.
7. Toby Bloom on the New York Genome Center's Crystallizing Clinical Vision, click here for the full article.

In This Week’s Issue:
1. GAO Seeks to Fill Four Openings on PCORI's Methodology Committee (Nominations Due: April 11), click here to view details on the call for nominations, and here for additional details on the PCORI Methodology Committee.
2. The Pink Sheet Daily: MedPAC Seeks Stakeholder Input On Medicare "Least Costly Alternative" Policy, click here to read the article (subscription required).
3. PCORI Blog: Work in Progress: Pilot Project Awardees Share Lessons Learned and Challenges, click here for the full post.
4. PCORI Names Jean Slutsky Chief Engagement and Dissemination Officer, click here to view the press release.
5. PCORI Seeks Patients to Join the ‘PCOR Partner List’ for CER Studies, click here for information on how to become a patient partner.
6. The Incidental Economist: Why Comparative Effectiveness Is Important, Checklist Edition, click here for the full article.
7. Psychology Today: You Say Efficacious, I Say Effective: How Best to Feel Well, click here for the full posting.
8. Deseret News: From Doctors to Bureaucrats: A Troubling Transformation, click here for the full article.
9. Washington Post: Relative Value Health Care: Some Obstacles, click here for the full article.

In This Week’s Issue:
1. PIPC Executive Director Attends the Tenth Annual State of Personalized Medicine Luncheon, click here to view the slide presentation.
2. MedPAC Weighs Factoring CER into Part B Drugs, Services Payments, see details below.
3. PCORI: Tracking Progress Toward Our Strategic Goals, click here to view the blog post.
4. JAMA Viewpoint: Ethics, Regulation, and Comparative Effectiveness Research: Time for a Change, click here to view the article.
5. Blog: New Research Institute Seeking a Patient Perspective, click here to view the blog post.
6. National Review Online: Pushing Experimentation without Consent, click here to view the article.
7. National Post: Patients Who Question Their Doctors Are Changing the Face of Medicine – and Physicians Are Embracing the Shift, click here to view the article.

In This Week’s Issue:
1. PIPC Chairman Responds to MedPAC Consideration of Utilizing CER Results in Medicare Payment Policy, click here to view the statement.
2. PCORI Selects Mathematica to Develop Dissemination and Implementation Action Plan, click here for additional information.
3. PCORI Posts:
• Joe Selby: Cardiovascular Disease is a Major Focus of PCORI's Comparative Research, click here to view the blog post.
• Video: PCORI's Role in Creating a Research Agenda to Reduce Disparities, click here to view the video.
• PCORI Releases Videos on Advisory Panels; Slated to Consider Nominees for New Panels on March 25, see details below.
• PCORI Blog: Making Small Numbers Add Up: The Challenge of Studying Rare Diseases, click here to view the blog post.
4. Chattanooga Times Free Press: Cleaveland: Dealing with the ‘death panel’ nonsense, click here to view the article.
5. How to Get Your Research Funded by PCORI, click here to view the article.
6. Senator Introduces Bill to Repeal PCORI, “End Health Care Rationing”, click here to view the press release.
7. Blog: Patient-Centered Outcomes Research and Effectiveness of Care, click here to view the blog post.

PIPC issued the following statement in response to discussion on use of CER in Medicare payment policy at today’s meeting of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission.
“Clinical evidence, and comparative effectiveness research (CER) in particular, can play a valuable role in empowering patients to make good decisions about the range of treatment options based on their unique circumstances and characteristics,” PIPC Chairman Tony Coelho said. “PIPC is concerned that expanded CMS authority to use CER in Medicare would result in one-size-fits-all policies that create patient access barriers. The discussion today highlights the importance of advancing principles of patient-centeredness in Medicare payment policy.” 

In This Week’s Issue:
1. PIPC/AAN Roundtable on Dissemination and Implementation, click here to see full summary and recommendations.
2. PIPC Congratulates PCORI’s Dr. Anne Beal on New Position with Sanofi, click here to view the statement.
3. Bloomberg: The Controversy Surrounding Comparative Effectiveness Research, click here to view the artcile.
4. JMCP: The GRACE Checklist for Rating the Quality of Observational Studies of Comparative Effectiveness: A Tale of Hope and Caution, click here to view the article.
5. PCORI Board of Governors Reappoints Advisory Panels, Approves Nominees for Two Seats, click here for more information.
6. Medical News Today: PCORI Sets Prioritized Research Agenda for Managing Two Diverse Conditions, click here for the full article.
7. AJMC: How Clinical Evidence Drives Formulary Decision-Making, click here for the full article.
8. Health Imaging: Demonstrating Value, Driving Down Costs: Comparative Effectiveness Research & Radiology, click here for the full article.