Outcomes research and comparative effectiveness

Abstract

Part of the mission of Health Outcomes Research in Medicine is to present evidence from outcomes research to help with decisions about which treatments to pursue and the efficacy of those treatments. In many instances, these decisions may involve comparisons of relative treatment costs in addition to relative treatment efficacy.<br><br>Comparative effectiveness research (CER) has increasingly been a focal point of health technology assessments. As defined by the Institute of Medicine in 2007, CER involves “the comparison of one diagnostic or treatment option to one or more others.”1 This can involve primary CER, which is the generation of clinical information to establish the relative risks and benefits of 2 or more alternatives in health care treatment. It can involve secondary CER, which consists of a synthesis of primary CER studies to help in drawing conclusions.