Partnership to Improve Patient Care

A recent blog by Evan Falchuck speaks to points I recently made in a Partnership to Improve Patient Care blog on consumer skepticism regarding comparative effectiveness research (CER) in the United States. 

Despite the new health law that works to prevent CER research from taking away diagnostic decision-making power from patients and doctors, skepticism about CER is largely rooted in a worry shared by many that CER-based policy will supplant the vital relationships held between doctors and patients.

The importance of the doctor-patient relationship is illustrated by Falchuck’s discussion of diagnostic errors caused by the lack of time many doctors in today’s high-pressure medical environment are able to spend diagnosing their patients.

Patients know that time doctors spend considering their symptoms, medical histories, and personal needs and preferences should be increased, not decreased.  Further, patients must be protected against the inappropriate use of CER policies that may provide doctors more cook-book requirements instead of time to develop personalized treatments for a diverse patient population.

Those in the CER decision making community have the responsibility to ensure that this is not the case by making sure that the new health law is followed and that CER stays patient centered.

If they can achieve this goal, the patient community can stand solidly behind them, allowing CER efforts to continue providing valuable research data to Americans for years to come.