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

Differing interpretations on procedure’s worth illustrate that no CER result should be final word
March 10, 2010 |

A recent Wall Street Journal article about the use of stent procedures in the medical community and the reaction to it by blogger Burt Cohen, offers another illustration of the complexities of comparative research, and again shows why results should be used to inform doctors and patients, but not to impose broad “one size fits all” prescriptions that do not reflect the complexities of the science or the differences in individual patients.

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Researcher knows common flaws in CER studies, dangers of result's misuse
March 8, 2010 |

A recent article by Jerome Groopman, M.D, provides some valuable, first-hand insight as to what can go wrong when policy makers “give teeth” to comparative effectiveness research (CER) studies by translating results into “best practices.” Groopman’s understanding of the limitations of CER and the complexities of delivery high quality care to each patient, lead him to caution against blunt application of CER in ways that do not give physicians the ability to deviat

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New USPSTF guidelines underscore need for patient-centered CER
December 16, 2009 |

A few days ago, I posted about what I saw as one of the key lessons from the controversy over the new U.S. Preventive Services Task Force’s (USPSTF) mammography guidelines, namely, that expert panels can sometimes come to different conclusions based on the same evidence.

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The Partnership to Improve Patient Care was formed to advance proposals for comparative effectiveness research that are centered on patient needs and health care quality, and to support continued medical innovation as a solution for patients and health care. If you want to be part of the solution for patient-centered CER, get involved today.

The Partnership's Principles define a framework for CER policy that is centered on improving patient care. These principles address issues that are critically important to patients, providers and others in the health care community. These include focusing on quality improvement and patient health outcomes; communicating results rather than setting centralized coverage decisions, addressing the full range of information gaps that matter to patients, addressing differences in individual patient needs, and supporting continued medical advances.