Committee makes comparative-effectiveness spending recommendations

How do you spend $1.1 billion in comparative-effectiveness research funding? A new report released by an independent advisory committee to HHS may provide some answers. The 73-page report, which was written by the Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research, attempts to help HHS's Office of the Secretary set plans to use the $400 million in comparative-effectiveness funding it received earlier this year.

The council has recommended that HHS use its $400 million to fund projects that aren't likely to fall under the purview of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the National Institutes of Health. The AHRQ has gotten $300 million in comparative-effectiveness funding and NIH received $400 million.

It's also recommending that the Office of the Secretary's first priority should create a data infrastructure, along with distributed electronic data networks and patient registries. Dissemination and translation of its research should be only secondary priorities, the committee suggests, with funding of research a distant third given that other federal agencies are likely to support such research as well.

To learn more about the report:
- read this Modern Healthcare article [1] (reg. req.)

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