HHS Should Establish Single Database On Effectiveness Of Drugs, Services, IOM Says

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Article Date: 28 Jan 2008 - 9:00 PDT

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The Institute of Medicine in a report released on Thursday called for the creation of a single, public database that gauges the effectiveness of drugs and health services, Reuters reports. IOM said such a database could help eliminate spending on ineffective treatments and reduce the $2 trillion in annual health spending. The report said Congress should direct HHS to establish and fund a program to evaluate health services and review clinical studies (Steenhuysen, Reuters, 1/24).

According to the report, the database could house a "credible, unbiased and understandable synthesis" of studies, which "could help minimize the use of questionable services and target services to the patients most likely to benefit."

The report laid out plans for a private or public-private entity that could produce the database (Walker, CQ HealthBeat, 1/24).

The report said, "If conducted properly, the systematic review should make obvious the gap between what is known about the effectiveness of a particular service and what clinicians and patients want to know."

Barbara McNeil, a report author and head of the department of health care policy at Harvard School of Medicine, said, "We need a way to synthesize data about the effectiveness of health care products and services in a standardized, objective fashion that will be considered reliable and trustworthy by all decision makers" (Reuters, 1/24).

A report brief is available online (.pdf).

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