Stimulus funds will boost comparative health research

The Department of Health and Human Services unveiled details of a plan to invest more in comparative studies on the effectiveness of different medical treatments. HHS officials said it has established a 15-member council to oversee the use of some $1.1 billion set aside for "comparative-effectiveness" research under the recently passed, $787 billion economic-stimulus plan. Of the total, the Agency for Research and Quality, a research arm under HHS, will receive $300 million, and the National Institutes of Health and the Health and Human Services Department, $400 million each, the officials said.