The health insurance industry’s trade association, America’s Health Insurance Plans, supports a more formal, and expanded, federal comparative effectiveness research effort with one caveat: the effort must be devoted to collecting and disseminating information and not be tied directly to coverage or payment decisions. That puts the health plans in agreement with Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus and creates a potent base for getting comparative effectiveness into upcoming health care reform efforts.
"We wanted to create an institute that was purely informational." That’s how a key Senate Finance Committee staffer explains the...