Case Studies

An NIH study of treatments for high blood pressure, called the ALLHAT trial, shows some of the strengths and limitations of comparative effectiveness research to improve patient care. More...

Recent Blog Posts

PIPC chairman delivers speech to specialty docs on importance of patient centered CER
July 6, 2010 |

Partnership to Improve Patient Care (PIPC) chairman, Tony Coelho, recently delivered a speech on patient centered comparative effectiveness research (CER) in front of fifty specialty doctors from around the country, among others, at the Alliance for Specialty Medicine’s (ASM) “Capitol Hill Advocacy Conference.” The conference took place just a day before the specialty doctors met w

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Tony Coelho's recent speech on patient centered CER
June 24, 2010 |

Below: PIPC Chairman Tony Coelho's recent speech on patient centered CER. The speech was delivered on Tuesday, June 22, 2010 at the Alliance for Specialty Medicine's “Capitol Hill Advocacy Conference,” in Washington, D.C.

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Lack of support for "evidence-based health care"— don't blame the patient
June 10, 2010 |

A new Health Affairs article concludes, based on focus groups and interviews, that "consumers will revolt if evidence-based efforts are perceived as rationing or as a way to deny them needed treatment."

You don't need to look any further than public reaction to the U.S. Preventive Service Task Force's updated recommendations on mammography screening to see the proof of this.
 
How should policy-makers react? Should they conclude that consumers, and even more so, patients, cannot be relied on to make evidence-based decisions, and therefore these decisions need to be made for them? Or should they conclude that evidence-based models of medical care and health delivery need to be carefully constructed so they have the trust and support of patients and consumers?

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Individualized Patients, Personalized Care

Every patient is different, so it is very important for CER research to be designed, communicated and used in ways that recognize individual patient differences. CER typically focuses on population averages, not differences in individuals. CER research should reflect the differences in patients based on factors such as genetics, health status, and their environment. This will help ensure that CER reflects patients’ individual circumstances rather than encouraging one-size fits all solutions based on averages.

Support personalized medicine and other advances that can help improve patient care. The emerging science of personalized medicine is changing the way we think about comparative effectiveness research. Advances in genetics and other fields like health information technology are giving physicians powerful new tools to understand which treatments are likely to work best on which patients. These advances hold potential to improve patient care and health care value. If comparative effectiveness research is not designed and used in ways that reflect this, it will stymie progress in personalized medicine and discourage continued medical innovation. Comparative effectiveness programs should facilitate the ability of physicians to tailor treatments to the needs of individual patients based on genetic information and other factors.

Click here to learn more about personalized medicine and what it means for health care.