Baltimore Based Non-profit to Play Major Role in AHRQ’s Community Forum
BALTIMORE, Maryland (February 2, 2011) - The Center for Medical Technology Policy (CMTP) will be part of a major new initiative funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to develop and demonstrate mechanisms to engage both members of the general public and stakeholders in patient-centered outcomes research, which compares drugs, medical devices, tests, surgeries, or ways to deliver health care. This information helps patients and their families understand what treatments work best and how their risks compare, while allowing for choices for each individual patient.
The $10 million initiative, known as the Community Forum for Effective Health Care, will be led by the American Institutes for Research (AIR) - a Washington, DC-based behavioral and social science research firm. In addition to CMTP, other partners include the Center for Deliberative Democracy at Stanford University, AcademyHealth, the Center for Healthcare Decisions, and Consumers Union. With its clinical and scientific orientation, patient-centered outcomes research is a challenging topic for public engagement. Yet, much clinical research being done today lacks a focus on the end goal of improving patient decision making. This initiative provides an unprecedented opportunity to improve the science of civic and stakeholder engagement in this type of research and will help ensure clinical research is more relevant to end users.
CMTP is a private, non-profit organization which serves as a neutral forum to promote discussion and develop strategies that improve the quality of clinical research for healthcare decision making. CMTP's objective is to help develop the methods and strategies that will ensure that this research fulfills its intended goal of helping patients, clinicians and payers make more informed healthcare decisions.
Contact:
Julie Simmons
410-547-2687 ext. 116
401 E Pratt Street, Suite 631
Baltimore, MD 21202
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