Industry Influence on Comparative-Effectiveness Research Funded through Health Care Reform

Much attention has been focused on the ongoing efforts in Washington to pass a health care reform bill. Comprehensive health care should reduce the use of ineffective and suboptimal medical interventions and investigations in order to improve medical care and reduce wasted expense. To do that effectively, we need data on the comparative effectiveness of therapies and medical tests, which unfortunately we currently lack.Recognition of this lack of data has resulted in the inclusion of increased funding for comparative-effectiveness research (CER) in current versions of the health care reform legislation. However, there are significant differences between the approaches taken . . .