How To Make Comparative Effectiveness Work

Health Affairs Blog
May 10, 2011

Comparative effectiveness research has been the target of recurrent criticism in some political circles, with opponents claiming it’s the “gateway to rationing” or it encourages “cookbook medicine.” But the conversation on Capitol Hill needs to evolve beyond the rhetoric so it can address the reality of medical care today: doctors and patients lack access to good evidence that supports clinical decision making.

To be sure, important questions need to be answered about what constitutes good and reliable medical evidence, and how research can be designed to create trustworthy evidence. This is the primary mission of the new Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), which has not only been tasked with commissioning new comparative studies, but also with bringing physicians and other stakeholders into the process of designing dependable studies....

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