CBO Director Recommends Research Entity To Focus on Evidence-Based Medicine
Congressional Budget Office Director Peter Orszag on Tuesday before an industry conference sponsored by Avalere Health proposed a new research entity that would focus on evidence-based medicine in an effort to reduce health care costs, CQ HealthBeat reports. Orszag recommended that the entity be a U.S. version of the U.K.'s National Institute for Clinical Excellence that would collect nonrandomized evidence of treatment given by health care providers.Orszag proposed that all health care facilities be required to maintain electronic health records that track the methodology used to treat specific medical problems and that physicians send their patient data to a research hub, where analysts would determine which treatment methods work best. Orszag also noted the need for monetary incentives to motivate doctors and health care facilities to track patient diagnosis, treatment and recovery. He said that if the U.S. were to "aggressively undertake" steps to establish the new entity, there would be a "significant reduction in health care costs, including Medicare and Medicaid costs." Orszag said that the effort could be funded by discretionary appropriations or private contributions through user fees.
The establishment of the entity, incentives to encourage physicians to report evidence-based medicine and a system to analyze the results likely would take at least five years, according to CQ HealthBeat. Orszag said CBO will begin to conduct studies to determine whether existing agencies can perform the research task, adding that if a new research agency were needed, it would take additional time for CBO to estimate the costs of the project.
Orszag said the U.S. is "woefully underinvested in research," noting that 25% of the federal budget goes toward health care costs, while CBO has just 15% of its staff examining those costs. He added, "There is, I think, an amazing opportunity in this long-term fiscal challenge to take cost out of the system without harming health" (Bartolf, CQ HealthBeat, 5/22). This is part of the Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.
