NPC Pleased With Establishment of Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute

Washington, DC (March 25, 2010) —The National Pharmaceutical Council (NPC) today said it was pleased with the establishment of the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), a private, non-profit corporation that would develop and fund comparative effectiveness research (CER). PCORI was a key provision in the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” that President Obama signed into law this week.

“Helping to inform health care decision making through CER is an important goal in this legislation and has the potential for positively impacting patient health. To accomplish this goal, CER must be conducted and applied appropriately. That means starting with good, relevant data; using appropriate methods to analyze that data; and translating those results in a way that is useful, understandable and actionable for health care decision makers. The establishment of the new Institute is an important step toward assuring quality in CER,” said NPC President Dan Leonard.

The outline for PCORI is consistent with the principles for CER that NPC championed last year in its testimony before the Institute of Medicine’s CER Priority Setting Committee, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research, which was responsible for developing a definition, criteria for research, and a strategic framework for CER. The CER sponsored by PCORI would encompass all health care services, be rigorous and transparent, consider the needs of subpopulations, and utilize a full range of types and sources of evidence. In addition, PCORI would provide evidence to encourage good decision making by health care professionals and patients, and work with other bodies to disseminate study results in a timely manner. The law also would establish a standing methodology committee to ensure that rigorous scientific methods are utilized, and PCORI would be governed by a multi-stakeholder Board of Governors. All of these concepts were espoused in NPC’s comments.

“It is crucial to ‘get CER right,’ because it impacts all stakeholders in the health care system. Health care professionals and patients need timely and relevant information to make decisions that support quality patient health outcomes,” said Leonard.

“As with any new undertaking, it will take some time and thoughtful input from health care stakeholders to fully implement PCORI. We look forward to being part of that collaboration,” he concluded. 

NPC’s previous comments on CER and related research are available at www.npcnow.org. In addition, NPC has several studies currently underway looking at CER’s impact on innovation and patient access, and at the differences in standards for generating evidence among government health agencies.

 

About the National Pharmaceutical Council

NPC’s overarching mission is to sponsor and conduct scientific analyses of the appropriate use of biopharmaceuticals and the clinical and economic value of innovation. The organization’s strategic focus is on evidence-based medicine (EBM) for health care decision-making, to ensure that patients have access to high-quality care. NPC was established in 1953 and is supported by the nation’s major research-based pharmaceutical companies. As a research and education organization, NPC does not take positions on legislation. For more information, visit www.npcnow.org.

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