Report on the U.S. Government's drive for comparative effectiveness research

Nov 11 2009

MarketResearch.com has announced the addition of GlobalData's new report "The US Government's Financial Support to Push Comparative Effectiveness Research," to their collection of Healthcare market reports.

GlobalData's new report, "The US Government's Financial Support to Push Comparative Effectiveness Research," explores the US medical equipment industry and the intricacies of the economic stimulus bill. The US Congress in the early part of 2009 made available $1.1 billion in funds for comparative effectiveness research as part of its economic stimulus program. The main goal of comparative effectiveness research is to bring down the costs of drugs, devices and treatments and make them available to all the patients. Comparative effectiveness research provides relative positives and negatives of different treatment options for the same disease condition. Such research provides physicians and patients with information on which to base their clinical decisions.

The healthcare industry and patients alike contend that cost alone shouldn't be the only criteria in deciding the treatment options for patients. Research may help save costs in the short term but eventually in the long run the costs are going to escalate further as patients do not receive the right treatment for their medical condition. Decisions should be based on overall effectiveness of a drug, device or treatment rather than on cost alone. Imposition of cost constraints may lead to worse patients' conditions and more importantly increases the healthcare costs in the long term.

Comparative effectiveness research needs to expand its focus to studies that encompass all aspects of the health care delivery system rather than just concentrating on drugs, biologics and devices. The research should include preventative services, emergency response and diagnostic tests to reflect the various components of the overall healthcare delivery system.