FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BALTIMORE, MD (October 9, 2014) - The Center for Medical Technology Policy (CMTP) released "A Multi-stakeholder Agenda to Advance Enhanced Recovery for U.S. Surgical Patients." This white paper (available here) builds upon earlier work, including a multi-stakeholder forum in which participants discussed potential challenges and opportunities to accelerate the adoption of Enhanced Recovery Protocols (ERPs) in the U.S. (meeting summary available here). The white paper shares key insights from the forum regarding potential steps to overcome barriers, and proposes a roadmap to accelerate the adoption of ERPs in the U.S.

One such insight is that institution-by-institution efforts to adopt ERPs for U.S. surgical patients are unlikely to result in a dramatic enough change to significantly reduce preventable complications and deaths for future surgical patients. A new national ERP stakeholder partnership could be established to provide a forum for collaboration and leadership that works across key health care stakeholder communities and experts that are already active in the U.S. ERP space. Such a partnership could issue a call to action among U.S. health care leaders and build a sense of urgency at the national level.

"We owe it to the millions of future patients and families who could be affected by serious and preventable harm from surgical complications to take this challenge seriously,” stated Sean Tunis, Founder and CEO of CMTP.  “The magnitude of change that needs to be accomplished can only happen through the alignment of the efforts of the full range of stakeholders."

White Paper Available Online Here

About CMTP
CMTP is an independent, non-profit 501(c)(3) organization that aims to make health care more effective and affordable by improving the quality, relevance, and efficiency of health care research. We focus on the design and implementation of comparative effectiveness research to produce information that helps patients, clinicians, and payers make informed treatment and policy decisions. CMTP provides a trusted forum in which a broad range of stakeholders can collaborate to identify important research questions, design appropriate studies, and develop innovative partnerships to implement these studies.

Contact
Julie Simmons
410-547-2687

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