About CERTs
Annual Report Year 1
The CERTs Program
Origins | Vision | Mission | Values | Carrying Out the Mission | Structure and Adminstration
Origins
Since 1992, AHRQ, formerly the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, has studied outcomes associated with prescribed drugs. Their Pharmaceutical Outcomes Program has addressed many important questions about the use of therapies, but critical issues remain.
To address these issues, Congress authorized a CERTs demonstration program in the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Modernization Act of 1997 (Public Law 105-115). AHRQ, with its expertise, was chosen to administer the program.
In November 1998, AHRQ asked the community to nominate research topics. AHRQ then selected topics on the basis of several criteria:
- High incidence overall or in subgroups such as minorities, women, or children.
- Significance to Federal health programs such as Medicare and Medicaid.
- High associated costs.
- Uncertain effectiveness of current therapies.
- Potential to improve decisionmaking.
- Potential to reduce major variations in management, use, or outcomes of treatment.
- Available scientific data to support study of the topic.
- Potential for rapid implementation.
The demonstration program began in September 1999, when AHRQ awarded $7.7 million over 3 years to support four research centers and a coordinating center. Congress authorized the permanent CERTs program in December in the Healthcare Research and Quality Act of 1999 (Public Law 106-129). A fifth center was added in July 2000, and two more in September 2000.