Demystifying Comparative Effectiveness Research: A Case Study Learning Guide (Executive Summary)

This 16-page executive summary of the report, Demystifying Comparative Effectiveness Research: A Case Study Learning Guide, written by Robert W. Dubois, MD, PhD, then chief medical officer of Cerner LifeSciences, and Sylvia L. Kindermann, MPH, Cerner LifeSciences senior research associate, discusses the three most prominent types of CER: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs), wherein subjects in a population are randomly allocated into study and control groups to receive or not to receive an experimental intervention, such as a new therapeutic biopharmaceutical or medical device; Meta-analysis, which synthesizes data across a series of similar studies, generally RCTs; and Observational studies, which follow participants over a period of time to examine the potential associations between patients’ exposure to treatment and health outcomes. The report provides a reference guide on how to best evaluate each kind of study, and it briefly discusses case studies in each of the three types of CER. The full report is also available on NPC’s website.