Are You a Clinical Decision-Maker? Register for Expert-Endorsed CER Collaborative Tools to Be “Better at What You Do”

The growing availability of new research poses challenges and opportunities for those creating, communicating or using research to inform clinical decisions. There is little guidance on how to evaluate and use the studies generated from observational research methods, indirect treatment comparisons, modeling and meta-analyses, among other methods, as well as how to synthesize the evidence from these multiple studies. This creates a risk for two undesirable outcomes: new study data being misinterpreted or critical information not being used to inform decision-making.

To address the need for real-world understanding and use of the new research being generated, the Comparative Effectiveness Research (CER) Collaborative, a partnership among the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP), the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research, and the National Pharmaceutical Council, developed a suite of online tools to better evaluate the research.

Managed care experts are praising these tools for providing greater uniformity and transparency in the evaluation and use of this evidence for coverage and health care decision-making.

Brian Sweet, RPh, MBA, executive director, US Payer & Real World Evidence, AstraZeneca, said that the CER certificate program equips decision-makers with “the tools to work within their environment; to evaluate and synthesize data in a way that’s meaningful.” And John Mackowiak, PhD, editor-in-chief, Journal of Managed Care and Specialty Pharmacy, stated the online tools simply “make you better at what you do.”

Do you create evidence or communicate evidence to formulary decision-makers? Are you a pharmacist or clinical decision-maker, and want to be better at what you do, too? Register today for the CER Collaborative’s 19-hour continuing education program, “CER in Decision-Making,” offered through the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy. The program advances your expertise in assessing evidence that comes from these new, unfamiliar research designs. There also is more flexibility to participate in the program now that its sixth and final module, “Demonstrating Skills in Assessing CER Studies and Synthesizing CER Literature,” can be completed in one of two ways: by attending an in-person meeting at an upcoming AMCP event, or through a newer option, by attending a webinar/teleconference meeting remotely.

Prior to registering for the program, please be sure that you will be able to meet course deadlines for completing the first five online modules:

• Webinar/teleconference participation. The final webinar/teleconference meeting will be held on Friday, September 25, 2015, 6:00 pm – 10:00 pm ET. In order to participate, you must enroll and complete the five online modules by August 14, 2015.*
• In-person participation. The in-person, final module will be held on October 26, 2015, during the AMCP 2015 Nexus at the Gaylord Palms Hotel & Convention Center in Orlando. To take part in the final in-person meeting, you must enroll in the program by August 17, 2015 and complete the five online modules by September 14, 2015.

Are you interested in hosting CER Collaborative training sessions at your headquarters? Join companies that are hosting training sessions on-site for clinical pharmacists, field-based medical and outcomes-based teams and drug information specialists. Contact [email protected] to learn about customized training options for your organization.

Note: The CER Continuing Education Certificate Course is no longer being offered as of July 2018. For further information, please contact [email protected].