Partnership to Improve Patient Care

WASHINGTON – This week, Tony Coelho, chairman of the Partnership to Improve Patient Care (PIPC) sent a letter to the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation at Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Sherry Glied, urging the agency to work in close coordination with the new Patient-Center Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) as it considers developing an inventory of comparative effectiveness research (CER).  PIPC sent the letter in response to HHS soliciting recommendations on how to build a CER database.

“We urge HHS to work through the PCORI, whose Board of Governors will include multiple representatives from HHS, in developing a CER Inventory,” PIPC said. Working with PCORI, which was established under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to manage a new program of patient-centered CER, “will ensure that the inventory is properly structured to meet the needs of the Institute and, more importantly, the patients and providers that it will be serving through development and support of a large-scale program for CER research and dissemination.” In addition, PIPC stressed the importance of establishing strong standards and clear procedures to ensure the quality of research in the inventory.

“By developing the inventory in conjunction with PCORI, HHS can ensure that the diverse perspectives and needs of patients and providers are fully considered as the inventory is developed.… PIPC believes it is very important for CER to consider factors such as patient reported outcomes, quality of life, and productivity, but not all studies evaluate these outcomes. PIPC believes the incorporation of patient and provider perspectives is a basic strength of the new Institute that can help answer these types of questions and is essential in developing a new CER database.”

About PIPC
The Partnership to Improve Patient Care was formed in November 2008 to support proposals to expand the government’s role in comparative effectiveness research that are centered on patient and provider needs; raise awareness about the value of well-designed CER; and promote the important role of continued medical innovation as part of the solution to cost and quality challenges in health care. Partnership members include a wide range of health care organizations representing patient, provider and industry advocacy groups.  For more information on PIPC, visit http://www.improvepatientcare.org.