Partnership to Improve Patient Care

In a recent op-ed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer outlined some  important components of health care reform,  including their support  for  “research on health outcomes to better inform the decisions of patients and doctors.”

The Partnership to Improve Patient Care (PIPC) couldn’t agree more.

We believe that this research, known as comparative effectiveness research (or CER), when done and used correctly, can help patients and doctors receive the best information possible on  medical and health care options .  Information is power – and when it comes to health information it can mean better health outcomes and a healthier population.

We're pleased that proposals toachieve this goal are gaining broad support in the health care community, and in Congress.

Specifically, the House Energy & Commerce Committee is expected to vote on an amendment to the health care bill when they return from their August recess.  It was submitted by Del. Christensen (D-VI)  and Reps. Inslee (D-WA), Upton (R-MI) and Walden (R-OR) and is supported by many others on the panel.

This bipartisan amendment establishes an independent Institute to guide the research and make the results widely available for use by patients, providers and others.  It will ensure that the research meets the needs of all patients, including those with different needs due to differences in race, ethnicity, and gender. It also ensures that research is open, transparent and accountable. And it protects patients by focusing the Institute on scientific research rather than setting national guidelines or policy decisions.     

 We must expand our knowledge base so that patients and doctors fully understand how  health care interventions could affect everyone – including people of different races, genders, age, and those with disabilities.  The bipartisan amendment pending in the Energy and Commerce Committee points the way forward. 

 In the midst of controversy and concern around health care reform, this amendment shows there is also reason for optimism. Working together, we can make sure that the patient is at the center of health care research, and the center of health care reform. We hope you will join us in achieving this goal.