Initial National Priorities for Comparative Effectiveness Research

August 13, 2009 Clinical research provides health care providers with information on the natural history of disease, clinical presentations of disease, and diagnostic and treatment options. Consumers, patients, and caregivers also require this information to decide how to evaluate and treat their conditions. The information necessary to inform medical decisions can be incomplete or unavailable, resulting in more than half of the treatments delivered without clear evidence of effectiveness. This uncertainty contributes to great variability in managing clinical problems, with costs and outcomes differing markedly across the country. Comparative effectiveness research is a way to identify what works for which . . .