Health Delivery Tops IOM's Comparative Effectiveness Research Priorities

The Institute of Medicine released 100 health topics today that should receive priority attention and funding under the new national research initiative to identify healthcare services and procedures that work best. IOM also specified what needs to be done to update comparative effectiveness research initiatives in the future.

IOM's recommendations follow the release on Monday of the Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research's Report to Congress and the President advising how $1.1 billion could be spent under the economic stimulus legislation to assist federal agencies in coordinating and comparing the effectiveness of health services research.

The committee's report provides independent guidance--built on public input from the past several months--to Congress and to Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on how HHS should spend its $400 million on research to compare health services and approaches to care under the stimulus bill.

The IOM panel recommended 29 research priority categories, which include both primary and secondary research areas. The top priority category was health delivery, followed by disparities, disabilities, cardiovascular, geriatrics, psychiatry, neurology, pediatrics, endocrinology, and musculoskeletal.