PIPC's white paper provides guidance in defining CER procedures

The Partnership to Improve Patient Care (PIPC) today released a white paper that defines a "Procedural Framework for the Conduct of Comparative Effectiveness Research." The paper and its executive summary provide guidance for policy-makers, patient and providers for establishing CER procedures that foster openness, transparency and patient-centeredness.

“As PCORI begins its work, we hope this paper proves useful in defining CER procedures grounded in the principles of stakeholder involvement, openness and transparency, public participation, and open decision-making”

The paper evaluates procedural requirements for the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) defined in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as well as processes already put in place by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).

"As PCORI begins its work, we hope this paper proves useful in defining CER procedures grounded in the principles of stakeholder involvement, openness and transparency, public participation, and open decision-making," PIPC Chairman Tony Coelho said. "PCORI represents a significant new opportunity for supporting patients and providers with research that is sensitive to their differences and responsive to their needs. Defining strong procedures for operations and governance is an important initial step in realizing this opportunity."

Among the important issues discussed in the paper are the procedures the PCORI Board of Governors will put in place to provide transparency, participation, and public record or their meetings and decisions, the length of public comment periods, and the procedures established on important decisions like setting a research agenda.

"As some areas of this new model have yet to be fully fleshed out, this paper is a valuable resource to identify potential best practices," Mr. Coelho said.

PIPC also recently launched a CER database, which provides a single, comprehensive, easy-to-use inventory of CER projects. These include CER studies currently being funded by agencies within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and other CER studies being funded by the federal government. Both the paper and database can be accessed through PIPC's website at www.ImprovePatientCare.org. The database can be accessed directly at www.cerinventory.org.