Using Comparative Effectiveness Research to Improve the Health of Priority Populations

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act made a significant investment in comparative effectiveness research (CER), a promising tool for determining the most effective strategies for treating different patients. Yet certain populations – including racial and ethnic minorities, the elderly, children, people with disabilities and those with multiple chronic conditions – are often underrepresented in health care research and therefore may not realize the same benefit from CER as the general population. To effectively reduce health care disparities and improve the quality and value of care for all patients, CER must address the needs of these priority populations.

NOTE: The audio for the keynote address is truncated at the very beginning, due to technical difficulties.

On June 3, the Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform at Brookings hosted a forum to identify challenges and opportunities for using CER to improve the health of priority populations. Experts and key stakeholders discussed methods for setting research priorities that can improve care, examined infrastructure needs for conducting research and addressed specific barriers to getting from better evidence to better care – all with specific focus on these priority groups.

After each panel, participants took audience questions.