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of the MMA
- To improve the quality, effectiveness and efficiency of health care delivered through Medicare, Medicaid and the S-CHIP programs
- $15 million was appropriated in fiscal years 2005, 2006, 2007 (pending) for AHRQ to conduct and support research with a focus on
- comparative clinical effectiveness and
- appropriateness of health care items and services (including pharmaceutical drugs),
- including strategies for how these items and services are organized, managed and delivered.
The need by patients, health care providers, and policy makers for objective information about the outcomes and effectiveness of therapeutic interventions was specifically addressed in Section 1013 of the MMA. Section 1013 authorized the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to conduct systematic reviews and research on topics of highest priority to Medicare, Medicaid, and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). To implement Section 1013, AHRQ established the Effective Health Care program with a goal to increase knowledge about the balance of risks and benefits of therapies so that health care decisions are improved. The program is comprised of three components that work collaboratively to evaluate, synthesize, develop, and disseminate scientific evidence about the effectiveness of various treatment options. The first component of the program is the Evidence-based Practice Centers (EPCs) which conducts systematic reviews of available scientific evidence about the effectiveness of different treatments and identify gaps in the existing knowledge base. To help fill these gaps, the program supports new research and the development of new methods through the Developing Evidence to Inform Decisions about Effectiveness (DEcIDE) network and the Centers for Education and Research on Therapeutics (CERTs) program. Most authors of articles in this supplement are also investigators affiliated with the DEcIDE and CERTs centers. The third component of the program is the John M. Eisenberg Clinical Decisions and Communications Science Center which translates the program's scientific findings into non-technical language that is communicated to different audiences.
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