Partnership to Improve Patient Care

In a recent letter in the St. Louis Times Dispatch, Drs. Palmisano and Gale stressed the importance of establishing open, transparent procedures in the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute.

An editorial in the Wall Street Journal on Friday makes a similar point, calling for transparency about the interests of the Board members themselves. This focus on transparency is consistent with one of the main points I made in an article in Health Affairs last October, in which I noted that the "explicit requirements for transparency and public input will help ensure that the organization remains accountable to patients and that all who wish to participate in the institute's projects or observe its processes are able to do so."

This continued focus on transparency is healthy, and I'm hopeful it is consistent with the direction that the Institute is headed. As we saw at the Institute's Board meeting earlier this month, they continue to take steps to improve the openness and transparency of their operations. PIPC will be working with the Institute to build on these improvements in the months ahead.