NPC, Health Industry Forum, AHIP and Blue Cross Blue Shield to Host Symposium, Shaping Convergent Strategies for Comparative Effectiveness Research

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Washington, DC (June 21, 2010)—Dr. Janet Woodcock, director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research at the Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Carolyn Clancy, director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and Dr. Gail Wilensky, senior fellow at Project HOPE/Health Affairs, will headline a symposium on June 24 examining how comparative effectiveness research (CER) will be developed, communicated and used in health care decision-making. 

The establishment of the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) in the new health reform law has elevated the visibility and importance of CER in the health care system. But as CER takes on an increasingly influential role in informing coverage decisions and the treatments that patients receive, many questions remain about how to ensure that the comparative evidence that is developed is both scientifically valid and communicated in such a way that it can be applied appropriately. This symposium, “Shaping Convergent Strategies for Comparative Effectiveness Research,” will examine these questions and offer insights from leading health care experts.  

In addition to keynote presentations, four panel discussions, featuring speakers representing federal health agencies, clinicians, patients, employers, health insurers and biopharmaceutical manufacturers, will address the following:

  • The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute panel will take a look at what this new public-private entity will do, how the entity will be implemented and structured, and how it will impact health care decision-making across the nation.
  • Utilizing CER at the Point of Care to Improve Patient Outcomes will examine how physicians use CER for treating individual patients and the challenges they face in translating population-based information into specialized treatment plans.
  • Defining Good Evidence to Inform Decision-Making and High-Value Health Care Services will discuss how to ensure the CER is generated and interpreted with high scientific standards, and how to disseminate CER findings that are timely, relevant and useful for decision-makers.
  • CER: Informing Public and Private Payer Decision-Making will examine how high quality CER can reduce variability and enhance the coverage decision-making process, as well as issues related to the development of an all-payer claims database for CER.

The conference will be held on June 24 from 8 am to 5 pm at the Park Hyatt Washington, 24th and M Streets, NW, in Washington, D.C. There is no charge for credentialed media. 

Sponsors include the National Pharmaceutical Council (NPC), the Health Industry Forum at the Heller School, Brandeis University, America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), and the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association.

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