Patient and Consumer Advisory Committee

PCAC is a standing committee of the Board of Directors of CMTP. Its function is to provide meaningful and substantive input to the Board on all aspects of CMTP's activity from the perspective of patients (people who are ill) and consumers (representing the public interest generally). Furthermore, PCAC may take on independent activities to further the interests of patients and consumers in the healthcare and evidence-generation sectors.

 PCAC contributions to CMTP include:

• Identify patient and consumer advocates who will meaningfully contribute to CMTP’s committees and workgroups
• Advise staff on developing outreach to other consumer groups to gather their input on CMTP’s products and documents
• Generate a list of patient-centered questions and issues that should be addressed in any multi-stakeholder group or meeting CMTP convenes or participates in to address healthcare issues
• Participate in CMTPs priority setting/topic selection process to ensure that technology topics that are selected for further review are of relevant to the patient community
• Create and ensure that all CMTP-facilitated research projects include outcome measures that are relevant to patients and consumers

Incorporating the Patient Perspective

Current efforts among payers, clinicians, and policymakers to influence healthcare often miss the opportunity to incorporate the patient and consumer perspective.  CMTP seeks to generate reliable evidence for decision-makers and recognizes the importance of including patients and consumers as fellow decision-makers, rather than simply the usual audiences for such decisions. CMTP is taking steps to include the views of patients and consumers in the conversation around evidence-based medicine and comparative effectiveness research. We believe that the results of our commitment to including patient and consumer perspectives will benefit not only our own organization, but also will be instructive for other evidence-based health care organizations seeking practical mechanisms to maximize patient and consumer involvement in their activities.

In October 2007, CMTP convened a meeting of leading consumer and patient advocates to review and evaluate the engagement methods that CMTP will employ in its strategic planning, setting research priorities, and study protocol development efforts. This advice was helpful to CMTP in implementing its plan to integrate patient and consumers perspectives into the development of its programs and governance.  In response, CMTP formed a Patient and Consumer Advisory Committee (PCAC), which exists as a subcommittee of the CMTP Board of Directors.  PCAC’s purpose is to ensure that the patient and consumer perspective is gathered and integrated fully within all CMTP initiatives, including CMTP’s strategic direction. 

In July 2009, PCAC met to provide input into CMTP's priority-setting process for choosing clinical topics for our products, such as Effectiveness Guidance Documents (EGDs).  Their recommendations have been reviewed and CMTP staff are in the process of incorportating them into the priority-setting process.  Click here for a synthesis of that meeting, including PCAC's specific recommendations.

Members