Clinical Economics Resource Links
Related Programs
Centers for Education and Research on Therapeutics (CERTs)
Translating Research Into Practice
U.S. Preventive Services Task Force
Centers for Education and Research on Therapeutics (CERTs)
The Centers for Education and Research on Therapeutics (CERTs) is a research program administered by AHRQ in consultation with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Go to: http://www.certs.hhs.gov
Its legislative mandate is to conduct state-of-the-art research to increase awareness of:
- New uses of drugs, biological products, and devices.
- Ways to improve their effective use.
- Risks of new uses and of combinations of drugs and biological products.
The legislation includes direction to the CERTS to investigate ways to improve the quality of health care while reducing its cost through an increase in the appropriate use of drugs, biological products, and devices and the prevention of adverse effects, and to "conduct research on the comparative effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, and safety of drugs, biological products, and devices."
CERTs are asked to incorporate measures of cost-effectiveness into their core projects where feasible, and recent funding awards encourage centers to undertake pharmacoeconomics and cost-effectiveness analyses as well as other projects consistent with the themes of their Centers. Go to: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-HS-05-014.html
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Translating Research Into Practice
TRIP funds research and evaluation projects related to the translation of research findings into measurable improvements in quality, patient safety, health care outcomes and cost, use, and access. The 2002 TRIP Program Announcement emphasizes research in the area of clinical economics, including assessment of the cost-effectiveness of strategies designed to put research evidence into practice and the study of ways to incorporate a cost-effectiveness framework into decisionmaking. Go to: http://www.ahrq.gov/research/trip2fac.htm
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U.S. Preventive Services Task Force
This independent panel of nationally renowned, nonfederal experts in primary care and evidence-based medicine are convened and supported by AHRQ. Congress charged the USPSTF with reviewing the scientific evidence related to the effectiveness, appropriateness, and cost-effectiveness of clinical preventive services for the purpose of developing recommendations for the health care community.
First convened in 1984, the USPSTF has issued two editions of its Guide to Clinical Preventive Services and is now producing its third edition. Go to: http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/uspstfix.htm
In 2001, the USPSTF Cost Work Group developed an approach for conducting systematic reviews of CEA (Saha et al., 2001). Go to: http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/ajpmsuppl/saha1.htm
Reviews of cost-effectiveness analyses were conducted for:
The USPSTF also reviewed cost-effectiveness studies for Chlamydia screening and screening for alcohol misuse, although findings were limited.
In 2003, AHRQ convened a cost-effectiveness workshop for the USPSTF with the goal of better integrating cost-effectiveness and effectiveness reviews to inform the health care community. This workshop informed a systematic review of evidence of effectiveness and cost-effectiveness on screening for abdominal aortic aneurysm.
The USPSTF effort to systematically review the evidence of cost-effectiveness of clinical preventive services mirrors a similar effort by the Task Force on Community Preventive Services at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Go to Economic Evaluation at: http://www.thecommunityguide.org/Econ/default.htm
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Internet Citation:
Clinical Economics Resource Links: Related Programs. February 2005. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/rice/cerelat.htm
540 Gaither Road Rockville, MD 20850