Obama's Budget: More Money, New Name for Comparative Effectiveness Research

The funding continues work started last year through the Recovery Act, which appropriated $300 million for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, $400 million for the National Institutes of Health, and $400 million for allocation at the discretion of the HHS Secretary.

Sheldon Greenfield, MD, the Donald Bren Professor of Medicine and executive director, Health Policy Research Institute, University of California, says he was pleased to see that CER was included in the budget—and not just contained in the healthcare reform legislation.

"The work really needs to be done," says Greenfield, who was co-chair of the Institute of Medicine report released last June that recommended the 100 health topics that should receive priority attention and funding under a new national research initiative for CER. However, work under CER presents "a whole lot of challenges"—especially when head-to-head comparisons are made through the research.

"It represents a challenge because the differences are going to be smaller. ... It changes the whole equation in getting [research areas] funded and getting designed," he says.

Tony Coehlo, chairman of the Partnership to Improve Patient Care, says his group has supported the Senate version of the reform bill that included strong language for CER, which encourages more patient-centered input. "We would like to see it done with the Senate's provisions that were proposed and passed by the Senate."