Carolyn Clancy, M.D.
This year’s President’s Symposium will focus on comparative effectiveness research (CER), an area that has received considerable interest from Congress, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), said ATS President J. Randall Curtis, M.D., M.P.H. The symposium will take place Monday, May 17, from 1:30 to 4 p.m.
“Leaders from the AHRQ and NIH will discuss how these agencies will fund comparative effectiveness research studies over the next several years,” said Dr. Curtis, professor of medicine in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Washington and head of the Section of Pulmonary and Critical Care at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. “Attendees will learn from the people in charge how this funding can and should be used to improve the health of the public.”
CER compares different treatments to determine which work best for patients in a given set of circumstances. “And it therefore allows clinicians to provide patients and their families with information about how a new therapy compares with current treatments so they can choose the most effective course of action,” Dr. Curtis said.
A report from the Institute of Medicine, he added, has found that research is not as focused on CER as it needs to be. “In my opinion, the IOM report undervalues the importance of pulmonary, critical care and sleep research in CER and I am hoping that this symposium can help us rectify that problem,” Dr. Curtis said. Keynote speakers include Carolyn Clancy, M.D., director of the AHRQ, and Michael Lauer, M.D., director of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute’s CER program, who will talk about the opportunities and challenges associated with CER at their respective institutions. Sean Tunis, M.D., director of the Center for Medical Technology Policy, will discuss the policy implications of CER.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 invested $1.1 billion in federal initiatives to begin the work of CER, which is considered by many a key building block in healthcare reform.
“Government research funding should be used to improve the health of nation,” Dr. Curtis said. “To do so requires research to focus on comparative effectiveness of various treatment modalities.”