Abstract: This chapter presents the objectives and context for this report, defines the key concepts used throughout the report, and describes the approach of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) Committee on Reviewing Evidence to Identify Highly Effective Clinical Services to undertaking the study. The committee was charged with recommending an organizational framework for assessing evidence on clinical effectiveness so that consumers, clinicians, professional specialty societies, payers, purchasers, and other decision makers have independent, valid information for making health care decisions. The central premise underlying the report is that decisions about the care of individual patients should be based on the conscientious, explicit, and judicious use of the current best evidence on the effectiveness of clinical services. The conceptual context is the continuum beginning with research evidence, moving to systematic review of the overall body of evidence, and then to interpretation of the strength of the overall evidence for developing evidence-based clinical practice guidelines. The report provides a general blueprint for a national clinical effectiveness assessment program (“the Program”) with responsibility for three fundamental processes: (1) setting priorities for evidence assessment, (2) assessing evidence (systematic review), and (3) developing (or endorsing) standards for evidence-based clinical practice guidelines.
In the early 21st century, despite unprecedented advances in biomedical knowledge and the highest per capita health care expenditures in the world, the quality and outcomes of health care vary dramatically across the United States (Fisher and Wennberg, 2003; Fisher et al., 2003a,b; McGlynn et al., 2003). The economic burden of constantly inflating health
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1
Introduction
Abstract: This chapter presents the objecties and context for this report,
defines the key concepts used throughout the report, and describes the
approach of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) Committee on Reiewing
Eidence to Identify Highly Effectie Clinical Serices to undertaking the
study. The committee was charged with recommending an organizational
framework for assessing eidence on clinical effectieness so that consum-
ers, clinicians, professional specialty societies, payers, purchasers, and
other decision makers hae independent, alid information for making
health care decisions. The central premise underlying the report is that
decisions about the care of indiidual patients should be based on the con-
scientious, explicit, and judicious use of the current best eidence on the
effectieness of clinical serices. The conceptual context is the continuum
beginning with research eidence, moing to systematic reiew of the
oerall body of eidence, and then to interpretation of the strength of the
oerall eidence for deeloping eidence-based clinical practice guidelines.
The report proides a general blueprint for a national clinical effectie-
ness assessment program (“the Program”) with responsibility for three
fundamental processes: () setting priorities for eidence assessment, ()
assessing eidence (systematic reiew), and () deeloping (or endorsing)
standards for eidence-based clinical practice guidelines.
In the early 21st century, despite unprecedented advances in biomedi-
cal knowledge and the highest per capita health care expenditures in the
world, the quality and outcomes of health care vary dramatically across
the United States (Fisher and Wennberg, 2003; Fisher et al., 2003a,b;
McGlynn et al., 2003). The economic burden of constantly inflating health
7
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KNOWING WHAT WORKS IN HEALTH CARE
care spending is weakening American industry’s competitive edge and in the
global economy, and this burden is increasingly being transferred to con-
sumers as they are held more financially at risk for the health care services
that they use (Gabel et al., 2002; U.S. Government Accountability Office,
2006a,b; Webster, 2006). Enabling and incentivizing “consumer choice”
is viewed by some as a potential market strategy to rationalize what most
agree is a health care system plagued by overuse, underuse, and misuse
(Schwartz, 1984; Wennberg, 2004). Yet even the most sophisticated health
care consumer struggles to learn which care is appropriate for his or her
circumstance and to obtain it at the right time (Berwick, 2003; Rettig et al.,
2007; Wennberg, 2002).
With these trends in view, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
(RWJF) asked the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to address problems in how
the nation uses scientific evidence to identify the most effective clinical ser-
vices. The IOM appointed the Committee on Reviewing Evidence to Iden-
tify Highly Effective Clinical Services in June 2006 to respond to RWJF’s
request and prepare this report. The 16-member committee included ex-
perts in clinical research, health care coverage, drug development, health
care benefits selection (large employers and other purchasers), health care
delivery, clinical guideline development, economics, statistical methods and
epidemiology, consumer and patient perspectives, child health, preventive
medicine, behavioral health, and ethics. Brief biographies of the committee
members appear in Appendix G.
STUDY SCOPE
The committee was charged with recommending a sustainable, replica-
ble approach to identifying and evaluating the clinical services that have the
highest potential effectiveness. The charge specified three principal tasks:
(1) To recommend an approach to identifying highly effective clini-
cal services across the full spectrum of health care services—from
prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation, to end-of-life
care and palliation
(2) To recommend a process to evaluate and report on evidence on
clinical effectiveness
(3) To recommend an organizational framework for using evidence
reports to develop recommendations on appropriate clinical ap-
plications for specified populations
The committee’s initial deliberations focused on articulating its charge
in a strategic work plan for the 18-month study period. The committee
chose to focus on developing an organizational framework for a national
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9
INTRODUCTION
clinical effectiveness assessment program, referred to throughout the report
as “the Program.” The mission of the Program would be to optimize the use
of evidence to identify effective health care services. Three functions would
be central to this mission: setting priorities for conducting evidence assess-
ments, conducting evidence assessments (systematic review), and developing
(or endorsing) standards for trusted clinical practice guidelines. The objec-
tive of this report is twofold: first, to examine the scientific rationale for
these three functions and, second, to recommend an organizational context
for implementing the three functions.
The committee reviewed, and ultimately excluded, a number of topics
that might be related to the charge including cost-effectiveness, knowledge
transfer and adherence to guidelines, program costs and sources of program
funding, placement of the program (e.g., within a governmental or private-
sector framework), patient values and preferences, legal issues, and techni-
cal methods underlying evidence assessment or guideline development.
The committee explored the relevance of cost and cost-effectiveness
analysis (CEA) to the committee’s charge over the course of several meet-
ings. The committee decided not to make recommendations about the role
of costs in evaluating clinical services for two reasons. First, in the United
States, the role of cost in government health policy and coverage deci-
sions, clinical guidelines, and practice measures is unresolved albeit often
debated (Congressional Budget Office, 2007; Medicare Payment Advisory
Commission, 2007; Wilensky, 2006). Although CEA has been used for
decades to estimate the relative value of alternative health interventions,
particularly with respect to new prescription medications, most policy
makers do not use it explicitly. Many policy makers believe information on
cost-effectiveness has the potential to guide more efficient use of health care
resources. The committee noted, however, that—regardless of the cost side
of the equation—reliable cost-effectiveness analysis depends on high-quality
evidence on effectiveness. In fact, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commis-
sion has recommended that before policy makers routinely employ CEA for
decision making, they must address concerns about CEA methods, includ-
ing how to assess the effectiveness of health services (Medicare Payment
Advisory Commission, 2005). By this reasoning, high-quality comparative
effectiveness research is a prerequisite to performing valid cost-effectiveness
analyses. Second, RWJF, the sponsor of this study, urged the committee to
limit its work to the non-cost issues related to determining the effectiveness
of health care services. Following the completion of the IOM study, RWJF
intends to fund additional research into how cost affects access to effective
health care services (Lumpkin, 2006).
The committee also discussed at length whether the report should delve
into issues related to knowledge transfer and adherence to clinical guide-
lines. Clearly, identifying effective health services is just one step toward
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0 KNOWING WHAT WORKS IN HEALTH CARE
ensuring an effective health care system. There is little value to identifying
effective services or developing evidence-based practice guidelines, if the
knowledge gained does not lead to higher quality health care delivery and
improved patient outcomes. However, setting standards for best practices
(e.g., through clinical guidelines) differs fundamentally from successfully
implementing them through quality improvement projects, which take place
at a local level.
STUDY METHODS
The committee deliberated during 5 in-person meetings and 14 tele-
phone conferences between July 2006 and October 2007. As previously
noted, during its early discussions, the members of the committee agreed
to first develop a strategic work plan for organizing the study. This soon
led to a primary focus on three processes deemed integral to identifying
effective health care services.
Given the dynamic nature of the issues involved in the study, the com-
mittee decided to supplement its planned review of the relevant literature
with expert testimony on current issues. It thus convened two public work-
shops. The first workshop, held in November 2006, focused on evidence
generation, evidence synthesis, and evidence assessment of new health care
technologies and new applications of existing technologies. The committee
heard testimony from various experts, including the developers of health
care technologies, government regulators, research scientists, and technol-
ogy assessors, on their experiences with the use of positron emission tomog-
raphy scanning for the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease; pharmacotherapy
with bevacizumab (Avastin) and ranibizumab (Lucentis) for age-related
macular degeneration; and two technologies related to the early identifica-
tion and treatment of colorectal cancer; the fecal DNA screening test and
an assay to test toxicity for the chemotherapy agent irinotecan.
The second workshop, held in January 2007, focused on organiza-
tions that set priorities for developing systematic reviews, clinical practice
guidelines, and practice standards. The committee heard testimony from
senior representatives of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
(AHRQ), the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), Consumers
Union’s Best Buy Drugs, the American Heart Association (in collaboration
with the American College of Cardiology), the National Quality Forum,
the National Committee for Quality Assurance, the Joint Commission, the
American Medical Association (AMA)-convened Physician Consortium for
Performance Improvement, UnitedHealthcare, the Cochrane Collabora-
tion, the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association Technology Evaluation
Center (an Evidence-based Practice Center), Johnson & Johnson, the ECRI
Institute, Genentech, and the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Department of Ortho-
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INTRODUCTION
pedic Surgery. In addition to oral testimony, the experts provided written
responses to the committee’s questions.
Appendix B provides further details on the public workshops.
CONTEXT FOR THIS REPORT
Conceptual Framework
The committee based its work on the central premise that decisions
about the care of individual patients should be based on “the conscientious,
explicit, and judicious use of current best evidence” (Sackett et al., 1996).
This means that individual clinical expertise should be integrated with the
best information from scientifically based, systematic research and should
be applied in light of the patient’s unique values and circumstances (Straus
et al., 2005). Centering on the patient is integral to improving the quality of
health care (IOM, 2001) and is also imperative if consumers are to take an
active role in making informed health care decisions based on known risks
and benefits. The committee also recognizes that health care resources are
finite. Thus, setting priorities for the systematic assessment of the scientific
evidence is essential.
What Is Eidence?
In the everyday sense, “evidence” is considered a collection of facts
that ground one’s belief that something is true (Dictionary.com, 2007).
In searching for evidence that a health care service is highly effective, the
notion of what constitutes evidence is more complex. It also depends on
one’s perspective. In a systematic review of the different views on the
nature of evidence, Lomas and colleagues (2005) observed that scientists
view evidence as knowledge that is explicit (codified and propositional),
systematic (with transparent and explicit methods used to codify the evi-
dence), and replicable. However, outside the research community, decision
makers, such as patients, clinicians, health plan managers, and employers,
see evidence as being more contextual. For the decision maker, scientific
evidence demonstrates what works under ideal circumstances, but it has
relevance only when it is adapted to a particular set of circumstances.
Someone must interpret the evidence for it to be used to guide clinical
decision making.
Who Is a Health Care Decision Maker?
The era of physician as sole health care decision maker is long past.
In today’s world, health care decisions are made by multiple persons, in-
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KNOWING WHAT WORKS IN HEALTH CARE
dividually or in collaboration, in multiple contexts for multiple purposes.
Decision makers are likely to be the consumer choosing among health
plans, patients or the patients’ caregivers making treatment choices, payers
or employers making health care coverage and reimbursement decisions,
professional medical societies developing practice guidelines or clinical
recommendations, regulatory agencies assessing new drugs or devices, and
public programs developing population-based health interventions. Every
decision maker needs credible, unbiased, and understandable evidence on
the effectiveness of health care services.
Conceptual Context for the Study
The committee defined the conceptual context for this study as the
continuum that begins with research evidence and that then moves to a
scientific, systematic review of the overall body of evidence and then to
the interpretation of the strength of the overall evidence for the develop-
ment of trusted clinical practice guidelines (Figure 1-1). The systematic
review is an essential element of scientific inquiry into what is known and
not known about what works in health care (Glasziou and Haynes, 2005;
Helfand, 2005; Mulrow and Lohr, 2001; Steinberg and Luce, 2005). The
strength of the evidence depends on the quality of the individual studies
that comprise the body of evidence, the combined number of participants
and events observed in the relevant studies, the consistency of the findings
of the relevant studies, and the magnitude of the observed effects (Higgins
and Green, 2006; Khan et al., 2001; West et al., 2002).
What Is an Effectie Clinical Serice?
The terms “effectiveness” and “clinical effectiveness” refer to the extent
to which a specific intervention, procedure, regimen, or service does what
it what it is intended to do when it is used under real world circumstances
(Cochrane Collaboration, 2005; Last, 2001). Recently, numerous propos-
als have called for a large expansion in the generation of comparative
effectiveness information (BCBSA, 2007a; Congressional Budget Office,
2007; The Health Industry Forum, 2006; IOM, 2007; Medicare Payment
Advisory Commission, 2007; Wilensky, 2006). These proposals call for
systems to compare the impacts of different options for caring for a medical
condition (e.g., prostate cancer) for a defined set of patients (e.g., men at
high risk of prostate cancer recurrence). The comparison may be between
similar treatments, such as competing prescription medications, or for
very different treatment approaches, such as surgery or radiation therapy.
Or, the comparison may be between using a specific intervention and its
nonuse (sometimes called “watchful waiting”). This report uses the terms
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INTRODUCTION
Research Studies
Examples:
• Randomized clinical trials
• Cohort studies
• Case control studies
• Cross-sectional studies
• Case series
Systematic Review
• Identify and assess the quality of
individual studies
• Critically appraise the body of evidence
• Develop qualitative or quantitative
synthesis
Clinical Guidelines and Recommendations
FIGURE 1-1 Continuum from research studies to systematic review to development
of clinical guidelines and recommendations.
NOTE: The dashed line is the theoretical dividing line between the systematic
review of the research literature and its application to clinical decision making,
including the development of clinical guidelines and recommendations. Below the
dashed line, decision makers and developers of clinical recommendations interpret
1-1
the findings of systematic reviews to decide which patients, health care settings, or
other circumstances they relate to.
SOURCE: Adapted from Systems to Rate the Strength of Scientific Eidence (West
et al., 2002).
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KNOWING WHAT WORKS IN HEALTH CARE
“effectiveness,” “clinical effectiveness,” and “comparative effectiveness”
interchangeably.
See Box 1-1 for other key terms that are referred to in the report.
Historical Context
This study occurs at a time when there is heightened interest in opti-
mizing U.S. health care through the generation of new knowledge on the
BOX 1-1
Selected Terms Used in the Report
Experimental study—A study in which the investigators actively intervene to test
a hypothesis. Controlled trials are experimental studies in which an experimental
group receives the intervention of interest while a comparison group receives no
intervention, a placebo, or the standard of care and the outcomes are compared.
In a randomized controlled trial, the participants are randomly allocated to the
experimental group or the comparison group.
Observational or nonexperimental study—A study in which the investigators
do not seek to intervene but simply observe the course of events. In cohort
studies, groups with certain exposures or characteristics are monitored over
time to observe an outcome of interest. In case-control studies, groups with
and without an event or condition are examined to see whether a past exposure
or event is more prevalent in one group than in the other. Cross-sectional stud-
ies determine the prevalence of a condition or an exposure at a specific time or
time period. Case series describe a group of patients with a characteristic in
common, for example, individuals undergoing a new type of surgery or the users
of a new device.
Systematic review—A systematic review is a scientific investigation that focuses
on a specific question and that uses explicit, preplanned scientific methods to
identify, select, assess, and summarize the findings of similar but separate stud-
ies. It may or may not include a quantitative synthesis of the results from separate
studies (meta-analysis). In this report, the term “systematic review” is used to
encompass reviews that incorporate meta-analyses as well as reviews that pres-
ent the study descriptively rather than inferentially.
Meta-analysis—The process of using statistical methods to combine quantita-
tively the results of similar studies in an attempt to allow inferences to be made
from the sample of studies and applied to the population of interest.
Technology assessment—An assessment of the effectiveness of medical tech-
nologies that uses either single studies or systematic reviews.
SOURCES: Cochrane Collaboration (2005); Haynes et al. (2006); Last (2001); West et al.
(2002).
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INTRODUCTION
effectiveness of health care services. As noted earlier, numerous stakehold-
ers, policy makers, and government entities have proposed substantial
new investment in comparative effectiveness research (America’s Health
Insurance Plans, 2007; BCBSA, 2007a; IOM, 2007; Medicare Payment
Advisory Commission, 2007; Wilensky, 2006). These calls for the genera-
tion of evidence underscore the urgency of the concern that the nation’s
health care decision makers be able to discern which evidence is valid, for
whom, and under what circumstances. Marked increases in the evidence
base for health care decision making will inevitably bring a concomitant
need for an increased capability for the synthesis and the interpretation of
the evidence.
The recent efforts to expand comparative effectiveness research follow
more than four decades of progress and setbacks in this area. Overall, there
have been significant gains in the science of effectiveness research, from the
adoption of randomized controlled trials in the 1960s to the introduction
of technology assessment in the 1970s, the methodological advances of
the 1980s, and the creation of the Cochrane Collaboration in the 1990s
(Box 1-2). Along the way, various government entities and private organiza-
tions have been launched to perform or be responsible for clinical effective-
ness research. Many of these initiatives have faltered because of inadequate
funding or political conflicts with vested interests (Gray, 1992; Gray et al.,
2003). This committee hopes that the nation now has the will to address
the urgent need to bolster the U.S. health care system with a foundation
built on research evidence and scientific methods.
ORIENTATION TO THE ORGANIZATION OF THE REPORT
This report provides a general blueprint for a national clinical effective-
ness assessment program (“the Program”). The overall intent is to outline
key Program functions and to recommend an overarching Program infra-
structure. The following section describes the organization of the report and
the objective of each chapter.
Chapter Objectives
This introductory chapter has described the objectives and context for
this report, including the conceptual framework, key terminology, historical
context, and methods used to perform the study. The subsequent chapters
sequentially outline the building blocks of the Program, i.e., priority setting,
assessing evidence (systematic review), and developing (or endorsing) stan-
dards for clinical practice guidelines. The final chapter explores how best
to organize these three functions in an overarching Program with maximum
potential to benefit patients and the health care system overall.
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6 KNOWING WHAT WORKS IN HEALTH CARE
BOX 1-2
Selected Milestones in U.S. Efforts to
Identify Effective Health Care Services
1930s The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is given authority to regulate
the premarket review of new drugs for safety by the Federal Food, Drug, and
Cosmetic Act (1938).
1960s Technology assessment arises on the basis of the recognition that modern
technology may have unintended, harmful consequences.
The Kefauver-Harris Drug Amendments expand the FDA’s responsibilities to
include evaluations of safety and effectiveness. Effectiveness must be proved
by “substantial evidence” (1962).
1970s Congress gives the FDA significant authority through the Medical Device
Amendments to regulate the testing and marketing of medical devices to en-
sure their safety and efficacy (1976).
ECRI (now the ECRI Institute) publishes its first monthly publication dedicated
to assessing medical technologies (1971).
Congress establishes the U.S. Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) (P.L.
92-484) to perform objective analyses of technologies, including health care
services, to aid policy making (1972). (Congress eliminated funding for OTA
in 1995.)
Wennberg and colleagues document wide variations in physician practices,
making evident that the style of U.S. health care practice is likewise variable
(1973).
Congress establishes the National Center for Health Care Technology (P.L. 95-
623) in 1978 to conduct medical technology assessments related to Medicare
coverage decisions. (The program was dissolved in 1981 after Congress cut
its funding.)
1980s RAND Corporation researchers document that large proportions of the proce-
dures that physicians perform are inappropriate, as judged by evidence-based
decision criteria.
The American College of Physicians initiates the Clinical Efficacy Assessment
Project and begins publishing clinical guidelines (1981).
The Veterans Administration institutes a Technology Assessment Committee to
make recommendations on priority technologies for assessment and appropri-
ate methods for technology assessment (1984).
The Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association (BCBSA) establishes the Technol-
ogy Evaluation Center to assess medical technologies through comprehensive
reviews of clinical evidence (1985).
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INTRODUCTION
The Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR) (now the Agency
for Healthcare Research and Quality [AHRQ]) is created and given the respon-
sibility for federal health services research by the Omnibus Budget Reconcilia-
tion Act of 1989 (P.L. 101-239). The agency’s Center for Medical Effectiveness
Research forms several Patient Outcome Research Teams to study the out-
comes and costs of alternative treatments for specific clinical problems.
The Council of Medical Specialty Societies convenes a national meeting to
promote guidelines and training programs for specialty societies and commis-
sions the creation of a manual of evidence-based methods (1987).
Significant methodological advances enable the generation and use of evidence
in medical decisions. These include decision trees, utility theory, Bayes theo-
rem for analyzing diagnostic tests, mathematical models, cost-effectiveness
analysis, clinical epidemiology, outcomes assessment, meta-analysis, and
systematic review.
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) is convened in 1984 to
evaluate research and issue guidelines for preventive interventions. It pioneers
the use of comprehensive literature reviews and publishes the first Guide to
Clinical Preventive Services in 1989.
1990s AHCPR (now AHRQ) launches a program to create evidence-based guidelines
(1990-1996).
The Cochrane Collaboration creates a network of organizations from 13 coun-
tries, including the United States, to promote evidence-based health care
though the production of systematic reviews and clinical guidelines (1993).
Funding for AHCPR operations is seriously threatened in response to lobby-
ing by a small group of orthopedic surgeons angered by a Patient Outcomes
Research Team report on the treatment of back pain (1995-1996).
Congress eliminates funding for the Office of Technology Assessment (1995).
AHRQ establishes the Evidence-based Practice Centers (EPCs) program to
produce reports on clinical evidence and technology assessments (1997).
AHRQ, the American Medical Association, and the American Association of
Health Plans (now America’s Health Insurance Plans) create the National
Guideline Clearinghouse (1998).
Health plans, specialty societies, disease-based associations, and foundations
create numerous programs that produce clinical guidelines.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) establishes the Medi-
care Coverage Advisory Committee (now the Medicare Evidence Develop-
ment and Coverage Advisory Committee) to provide objective assessments
of the available evidence on the safety, efficacy, and clinical benefits of medi-
cal services or products for national coverage decisions (1998).
continued
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KNOWING WHAT WORKS IN HEALTH CARE
BOX 1-2
Continued
2000s CMS introduces Coverage with Evidence Development to generate data
on the utilization and impacts of services being considered for a national
Medicare coverage decision. The overall objective is to improve the
evidence base for providers’ recommendations to Medicare beneficiaries
(2005).
AHRQ creates the Effective Health Care Program, authorized by Section
1013 of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization
Act of 2003 (P.L. 108-173) (2005).
The Institute of Medicine establishes the Roundtable on Evidence-Based
Medicine (2006).
BCBSA, America’s Health Insurance Plans, the Medicare Payment Ad-
visory Commission, and others propose substantial new investment in
comparative effectiveness research.
NOTE: The USPSTF was modeled on the Canadian Task Force on the Periodic Health Exami-
nation, which the Canadian Government created in 1976 to weigh the scientific evidence for
and against using specific preventive services in asymptomatic populations (Canadian Task
Force on Preventive Health Care, 2003).
SOURCES: Atkins et al. (2005); BCBSA (2007b); Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health
Care (2003); CMS (2006); Congressional Research Service (2005); Eddy (2005); Gazelle
et al. (2005); Gray et al. (2003); Helfand (2005); IOM (1985, 2006); Levin (2001); Steinberg
and Luce (2005); USPSTF (2007).
Chapter 2, An Imperative for Change, documents the imperative for
immediate action to change how the nation marshals clinical evidence and
applies it to endorse the use of the most effective clinical interventions.
Chapter 3, Setting Priorities for Evidence Assessment, provides the
committee’s findings and recommendations on setting priorities for evidence
assessment (systematic review) and describes key programmatic challenges
in establishing a priority setting process for the Program.
Chapter 4, Systematic Reviews: The Central Link Between Evidence
and Clinical Decision Making, reviews how high-quality evidence assess-
ment (systematic review) is integral to identifying effective clinical services
and presents the committee’s recommendations for ensuring high-quality
evidence assessment. Key programmatic challenges are highlighted.
Chapter 5, Developing Trusted Clinical Practice Guidelines, presents
the committee’s findings and recommendations for developing (or endors-
ing) standards for trusted clinical practice guidelines. Key programmatic
challenges are highlighted.
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INTRODUCTION
Chapter 6, Building a Foundation for Knowing What Works in Health
Care, considers how the previous chapters’ recommendations may be best
implemented. It provides guiding principles, assesses three basic alterna-
tives, and recommends a general organizational framework for the Pro-
gram. Key programmatic challenges are highlighted.
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