CER Institute Overview
The CER Institute is Organized by the Center for Medical Technology Policy and co-sponsored with AcademyHealth.
The CMTP Comparative Effectiveness Research (CER) Institute is aimed at professionals in clinical practice and research, trial management, technology assessment, public health, epidemiology, quality assessment, health economics and outcomes research, and policy development who need to develop a deeper understanding of CER concepts, applied methods, and policy issues. Participants should have an understanding of clinical research and some familiarity with CER literature. Participants will be able to select among programs of varying complexity and detail in order to design a program track that best meets their individual level of knowledge and interests. Participants should be prepared to participate actively in group learning processes.
The CER Institute will provide participants with an in-depth understanding of CER approaches and methodologies, and enable them to apply or evaluate a broad range of CER tools within their own professional context. Through case studies and interactive group discussions, students will learn from top experts in the field. The objectives are to expose participants to important methodological issues that arise when conducting CER, introduce emerging policy trends and ensure that participants understand effective methods for translating the results from CER studies into policy. Sessions will address a wide range of topics, including alternative experimental designs, uses of observational data and registries, systematic reviews, methods for indirect comparisons, health economics, and translation and dissemination of CER studies.
The three day Institute will consist of large luncheon plenary sessions and smaller breakout sessions in the mornings and afternoons. The luncheon plenaries will feature a lecture by a critical figure in the field of comparative effectiveness research followed by a reactor panel and questions by the audience. The smaller breakout sessions are where participants will have the opportunity to interact with each other and with the faculty and take part in an in-depth exploration of the session topic. In order to ensure that participants are able to tailor the Institute to their specific interests and needs, we will offer four different breakout sessions simultaneously and ask that participants choose one of those four sessions to attend. The same set of four breakout sessions will be offered twice so that participants are able to attend two of the four sessions.
The CER Institute will:
- Provide interactive instruction in CER Methods
- Engage participants in a discussion of emerging policy trends
- Ensure that Institute attendees understand effective methods for translating the results from CER studies into policy or practice in their own professional setting
