HHS named the members of its new Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research, established to oversee and manage $1.1 billion in research funds allocated through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
The council was formed to make recommendations to the HHS secretary about different treatment options including medications and surgical procedures and aims to present the “best information” possible to doctors and patients as they make healthcare choices, said Carolyn Clancy, a physician who is director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. That information is “too often lacking,” she said during a teleconference. Clancy was one of the members named to the new council.
AHRQ will use $300 million of the allocated funds to extend its comparative-effectiveness research programs. The National Institutes of Health and HHS each receive $400 million in funding for research through the stimulus law. The federal council is required by the law to submit an operations plan by July 30 that outlines its priorities for the research spending. (Click for the complete list of council members.)
