By Kerry Young, CQ Roll Call
May 28, 2015 -- The Bipartisan Policy Center issued a call last week for greater use of economic analysis in making health care decisions, a move that could reinvigorate debate about cost-effectiveness research.
In a new report, the nonprofit center's Prevention Task Force recommended that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health include a requirement for cost-effectiveness analysis in grant applications. The recommendation is included in a package of proposals that are meant to shift the American medical system away from its longstanding fee-for-service approach, which is seen as a culprit in driving up costs while often doing a poor job in preserving or improving people's health.
"These recommendations will help develop new financing mechanisms and integrated programs and services that will shift America's health care system toward disease prevention and wellness," said former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a doctor who serves as an adviser to the center's Prevention Task Force.