Case Studies of Comparative Effectiveness Agencies Abroad
<p>Australia, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom all have set up agencies to ensure that their investments in health care, including medications, treatments, and new medical technologies, are yielding 'value for money' and to assist health care providers in improving their clinical practice. </p>
<p>The Commonwealth Fund has just published a new series of <a href="/publications/publication/2009/jul/comparative-effectiveness-research-and-evidence-based-decision">issue briefs</a> examining the comparative effectiveness efforts in each country. The series covers:</p>
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<a href="/publications/issue-briefs/2009/jul/comparative-effectiveness-review-within-uks-national-institute">The U.K.’s National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE)</a>; </li>
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<a href="/publications/issue-briefs/2009/jul/evidence-based-decision-making-within-australias-pharmaceutical">Australia’s Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme and Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee</a>; </li>
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<a href="/publications/issue-briefs/2009/jul/national-authority-health-france">France’s National Authority for Health</a>; and </li>
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<a href="/publications/issue-briefs/2009/jul/institute-quality-and-efficiency-health-care-germany">Germany’s Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care</a>.</li>
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<p>Accompanying the briefs are videos featuring comparative effectiveness experts from the four nations: former Commonwealth Fund Harkness Fellow <a href="/publications/video/2009/jul/kalipso-chalkidou-comparative-effectiveness-health-care-uk">Kalipso Chalkidou, M.D., Ph.D</a>., director of U.K.'s NICE and lead author of a recent Fund-supported study in <em>Milbank Quarterly</em> comparing the four countries' approaches; <a href="/publications/video/2009/jul/sir-michael-rawlins-comparative-effectiveness-uk">Sir Michael Rawlins</a> of NICE; <a href="/publications/video/2009/jul/lloyd-sansom-comparative-effectiveness-australian-health-care">Professor Lloyd Sansom</a> of Australia's School of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences; <a href="/publications/video/2009/jul/laurent-degos-comparative-effectiveness-french-health-care"></a><a href="/publications/video/2009/jul/laurent-degos-comparative-effectiveness-french-health-care">Laurent Degos, M.D., Ph.D.</a>, chair of the French National Authority for Health (HAS); and <a href="/publications/video/2009/jul/peter-sawicki-comparative-effectiveness-german-health-care">Peter Sawicki, M.D., Ph.D.</a>, of Germany's Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care.</p>
<p>In the U.S., evidence from a <a href="/publications/journal-article/2009/jul/has-time-come-cost-effectiveness-analysis-us-health-care">recent study </a>in the journal <em>Health Economics, Policy and Law</em> suggests that health care leaders would welcome the use of cost-effectiveness criteria but that legal and business barriers currently prevent its broader acceptance. The study, led by former Harkness Fellow Stirling Bryan, Ph.D., and funded by the California Health Care Foundation and The Commonwealth Fund, found that three-quarters of key decision-makers from a diverse group of California-based health care organizations believe that cost-effectiveness criteria should be used in insurance coverage decisions. Fear of litigation, however, was cited by two-thirds of study participants as a barrier to adoption.</p>