Janice Simmons, for HealthLeaders Media, June 29, 2009

The issuance today of recommendations from the Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research to Congress and the Obama administration will likely receive close attention from all sides of the healthcare reform debate--particularly over defining the phrase "comparative effectiveness.

The 15-member council was selected in March to propose--with public input--how $1.1 billion could be spent under the economic stimulus legislation to assist federal agencies in coordinating and comparing the effectiveness of health services research. The goal was to save roughly $700 billion (as noted by the Congressional Budget Office last year) by determining what goes into healthcare spending that does not necessarily improve individual healthcare or provide quality healthcare

However, the term "comparative effectiveness" has become a hot button item in the healthcare reform debate with various legislators and interest groups equating the term with an attempt by the federal government to ration care.

Today's report emphasized how it sought multiple perspectives--including through three public hearings--in how CER should be defined, what criteria were needed for determining which research projects should be a priority, and how a strategic framework should be established to identify gaps and future priorities.

The panel said that: "Comparative effectiveness research is the conduct and synthesis of research comparing the benefits and harms of different interventions and strategies to prevent, diagnose, treat and monitor health conditions in 'real world' settings. The purpose of this research is to improve health outcomes by developing and disseminating evidence based information to patients, clinicians, and other decision makers, responding to their expressed needs, about which interventions are most effective for which patients under specific circumstances."

The council also recommended that:

• Research should focus on the needs of priority populations, such as racial and ethnic minorities, persons with disabilities, persons with multiple chronic conditions, the elderly, and children
• Research should be in specific high impact health arenas, such as medical and assistive devices, surgical procedures, behavioral interventions, and prevention
• Investments should be made in data infrastructure to link current data sources to help answer CER questions

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Janice Simmons is a senior editor and Washington, DC, correspondent for HealthLeaders Media Online. She can be reached at jsimmons@healthleadersmedia.com.