How Systems-Focused Are Federally Funded CER Efforts?
Comparative effectiveness research (CER) is a primary tool for understanding the clinical value of therapeutic treatment options, as well as payment and delivery models. Evidence generated from CER that evaluates interventions, both therapy-specific and at a health systems level (e.g., treatment adherence) can be used as a means to provide better care for patients. In response to stakeholder demands for new types of evidence, federal investments have increasingly focused on generating CER, as well as the infrastructure needed to support it. Using the Avalere EBM Navigator, Avalere examined federally funded CER conducted between April 2009 and April 2012 to understand the extent to which this research focused on health systems interventions and what this could mean for future federal research investments.