The debate on health care reform is focusing a lot of attention on how doctors and other health care providers can improve their ability to deliver the right kind of care at the right time.
While the United States produces some of the most technologically advanced health care in the world, the growing number of possible treatments and the dizzying array of new medical technologies can really complicate the task of choosing the right option.
It is an often-daunting task.
Policymakers are now focusing on getting better data in the hands of patients and doctors through “comparative effectiveness research,” or CER. Despite the wonkish name, CER is quite simply about producing unbiased information that will allow for useful comparisons of treatments – to show which ones are more effective and for which patients.
The economic stimulus legislation provided $1.1 billion in new funding for the creation of a federal CER Institute. If this research is done right, the health care community will have access to an abundance of information that will help providers and patients make the best decisions unhindered by red tape and intrusive regulations.
It will not stifle innovation. But if CER is handled improperly, the doctor-patient relationship will be undermined along with quality of care.
In large measure, the success of the health care reform movement will depend on how we shape the new data-driven approach.
Earlier this year, I agreed to serve as chairperson of the Partnership to Improve Patient Care (PIPC), a broad coalition that works to ensure that the data we use in crafting new health care policies are focused on meeting patient and provider needs.
As a former congressional representative and primary author of the Americans with Disabilities Act, I know how much is at stake in building a sustainable, affordable health care system that serves all Americans.
In addition, as someone who has lived with epilepsy since his teen years, I know that our health care system must meet the needs of an increasingly diverse population with the treatments that do not exclude people with disabilities, racial and ethnic communities and the elderly, among others. Too often, these voices are overlooked in policy debates.
Living with a disability presents many unique challenges. But time and again, I meet people with disabilities that have accomplished amazing things in this world.
Much of my life has been dedicated to helping people who live with disabilities become productive citizens. That’s why I will continue to work for expanded CER that provides those with disabilities every chance to make a difference in our world today.
The health care reform process is moving fast. PIPC is working to ensure that the federal government’s new CER capability is established in an open, transparent process that is inclusive of all healthcare stakeholders.
That’s why PIPC endorses the Comparative Effectiveness Research Act of 2009, introduced by Representative Kurt Schrader (D-Ore.) and co-sponsored by Representative Joseph Crowley.
Every body is different, so we each may react differently to the same treatment. To protect patients, the Schrader bill discourages a “one-size-fits-all” approach to health care and favors an individualized approach that is often necessary to ensure the best health outcome possible.
What’s more, the bill’s new federal CER institute would be a private entity and governed by a board drawn from the federal government, patient and physician groups, as well as industry. Schrader has shaped this institute in a way that will ensure that everyone, especially patients and providers, has a seat at the table.
The bill also incorporates a measure that avoids restricting access to life-saving medical products. This so-called “physician out” provision prohibits the government from using CER data to prevent a doctor from making decisions that are best for the individual circumstances of different patients. That is a necessary and prudent safeguard.
Please write or call Congressmember Crowley and thank him for co-sponsoring the Comparative Effectiveness Research Act of 2009 (H.R. 2502) as the best way to preserve the patient-doctor relationship at the core of our nation’s health care system.
Tony Coelho is chairman of the Partnership to Improve Patient Care, (https://www.improvepatientcare.org/), former House Majority Whip and author of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
