Agencies seek to use stimulus funds to find cheaper healthcare

As federal health agencies seek to hand out stimulus funds to research the effectiveness of various medical treatments, they will include projects that look in part at the cost of drugs and other treatments. Obama administration officials have said they want to use stimulus funds to help doctors and patients choose more-effective treatments and ultimately, help rein in rising healthcare costs. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, which has $300 million to spend on comparative research, said it would increase funding to projects that focus on arthritis, cancer, and 12 other conditions that are often costly to treat.