Health Care & Prescription Drugs News

But if the health reform proposals before Congress make it into legislation, doctors and patients will have a place to turn, because the House health care bill, H.R. 3200, includes “comparative effectiveness research” provisions.

“The people opposing President Obama’s health care reform say that comparative effectiveness research leads to the rationing of health care, but that’s just not true,” said Jenn Hatch, an Associate at the consumer watchdog group ConnPIRG.  “Helping doctors provide the most effective treatments isn’t rationing – it’s common sense.”

As a recent report by ConnPIRG lays out, comparative effectiveness research provides doctors and patients with up-to-date research on which treatments work best, simultaneously improving care and bringing down costs.

The high cost of care is one of the main reasons American families and small businesses are asking for reform, so, ConnPIRG notes, including comparative effectiveness research measures in legislation is crucial.

But it has opponents. And while headlines remain focused on the fight over the proposed public option in the Senate, this week the House will be considering amendments to its bill.

Energy and Commerce Committee Congressional Chairman Representative Henry Waxman (D-CA) will face attempts to weaken the House bill with amendments that would undermine the comparative effectiveness provisions.

The Connecticut Public Interest Research Group opposes the proposals that would replace the current administration-supported language with alternate language supported by its opponents, like the pharmaceutical industry. The alternate language lacks the conflict of interest provisions that would assure no one with a financial interest in the research can influence its results.

Currently, the research comparing treatments which do exist are slanted or biased, The Facts About Comparative Effectiveness Research details, since they are funded by companies with a financial stake in the results.

And the truth is, ConnPIRG found, for the majority of medical conditions, there are no studies to help doctors and patients determine the most effective course of treatment among all the available options.

“The information just isn’t out there. Should a patient use a drug, undergo surgery, change her diet?  With technological advancement as rapid as it is, the distance between what we know and what we need to know grows daily. We can get the answers, but we need to devote the resources to research them,” explained Jeff Bernstein, Policy Analyst for U.S. PIRG and author of the report.

Drawing on numerous medical journal resources, the report examines these scientific studies of treatments, drugs, and medical devices.

“Doctors have been performing this kind of research for centuries,” continued Bernstein.  “In the 16th century, a French surgeon figured out the best way to treat battlefield wounds, and debunked a folk remedy for poison. Today, places like the Mayo Clinic and Intermountain Healthcare in Utah are saving lives and millions of dollars by finding the best ways to treat their patients.”

At Intermountain, for example, Caesarian sections were reduced from a national average of 1 in 3 to 1 in 5, and women admitted to Intermountain have spent 45,000 fewer hours in labor than would have been expected under previous protocols, saving over $10 million per year. 

But while individual efforts are laudable, the country’s ailing health care system needs a coordinated, national research effort, ConnPIRG’s study finds. Doctors and prestigious health institutions, like the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, agree.

The Institute, part of the National Academy of Sciences, recently listed 100 medical conditions or health concerns where comparative effectiveness is needed and called on the government to fund and develop “a robust CER infrastructure… to sustain CER well into the future.”

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ConnPIRG is a non-profit, non-partisan public interest advocacy organization.  Click here for more information on the Making Health Care Work campaign.