Can reforms make quality care available at reasonable prices?

CONTACT: Franz Brotzen
PHONE: 713-348-6775
E-MAIL: franz.brotzen@rice.edu   

Can reforms make quality care available at reasonable prices?
Baker Institute panel to weigh impact of comparative effectiveness research on health care

The debate over health care reform has dominated the first year of Barack Obama’s presidency. One part of the proposed overhaul is an emphasis on quality care at reasonable prices. A Feb. 24 discussion panel at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy will weigh the impact of comparative effectiveness research on that effort.

Experts will discuss how comparative effectiveness research measures the outcomes and impact of different drugs, therapies and procedures. The event begins with breakfast at 7:45 a.m. in Baker Hall’s Doré Commons on the Rice University campus, 6100 Main St. For directions, you can go to the following site: http://www.bakerinstitute.org/contact_directions.cfm.  

Comparative effectiveness research directly evaluates existing health care interventions to determine which procedures work best for various patient populations and which pose the greatest benefits and harms.

Carolyn Clancy, the director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and Sheldon Greenfield, the Donald Bren Professor of Medicine and the executive director of the Center for Health Policy Research at the University of California at Irvine, will be the panelists. The moderator will be John Mendelsohn, president of the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.

The discussion is part of the Medicine, Research and Society Public Policy Issues Series, a joint project between the Baker Institute Science and Technology Policy Program and the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. Additional sponsors for this event include the Baker Institute Health Policy Forum and the Rice University Institute of Biosciences and Bioengineering.

For more information, go to http://www.bakerinstitute.org/events/the-impact-of-comparative-effectiveness-research-on-the-u.s.-health-care-system.

Members of the news media who want to attend should RSVP to Franz Brotzen at franz.brotzen@rice.edu or 713-348-6775.