Health Leaders Media reports that one segment of health care reform may go ahead with or without a comprehensive reform package:
While Congress may not have approved healthcare reform legislation yet, one of the more well-discussed--and sometimes controversial--areas included in the reform bills was included in President Obama's proposed fiscal 2011 budget: comparative effectiveness research (CER).
However, a scan of the proposed budget will detect no references to "CER;" its new name is instead: "patient-centered health research."
In the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) budget, no explanation is given for the name change. The fiscal 2011 budget request provides a total of $286 million--which included $273 million for research and $13 million for related program support--targeted in part for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to support new research projects.
A central tenant to President Obama's health care reform proposals has been comparative effectiveness research. Comparative effectiveness research compares similar treatments in terms of both the relative medical benefits and risks of each option, and also the costs and the benefits of those options. Comparative effectiveness is increasingly being viewed as a viable way to help drive down spiraling health care costs while continuing to provide quality care. Roughly $700 billion each year goes to health-care spending that can't be shown to lead to better health outcomes, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office.
For the full story click here. For the CBO report on comparative effectiveness research, click here.
