2009-06-30

Two advisory bodies released reports on comparative effectiveness research (CER) authorized under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA, P.L. 111-5). The Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), jointly with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), was to provide the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations a fiscal year 2009 operating plan for all the ARRA funds allocated for CER by June 30th.

The Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research (FCCCER) June 29 published its "Report to the President and Congress." The report provides the definition of CER that HHS has said will guide allocation of $700 million in ARRA CER funds for AHRQ and NIH. The Council’s report also described current federal activities in CER and made recommendations on how the HHS Secretary should spend an additional $400 million in ARRA funding to accelerate the development and dissemination of CER. The report advises that "the primary investment for this funding should be data infrastructure" and notes that these efforts in data infrastructure could include "linking current data sources to enable answering CER questions, development of distributed electronic data networks and patient registries, and partnerships with the private sector." 

The Council sought public input while drafting its report and ASH submitted written comments to the Council in early June.

Following the FCCCER report, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) Committee on Comparative Effectiveness Research Prioritization June 30 published its ARRA-authorized report listing research questions that would have the highest priority for study. Prepared with extensive stakeholder input, the report offers a list of 100 priority topics relevant to CER. The IOM study also will inform use of the aforementioned $400 million in ARRA funds under the HHS Secretary's discretion.

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