Comparative effectiveness research (CER) has the potential to greatly improve the safety and effectiveness of medical treatments and benefit the public health, but only if findings are widely disseminated and the appropriate use of these research findings gain wider acceptance. Currently, many patients and consumers are skeptical about such research, fearing it will unfairly reduce treatment options for doctors and their patients. Many patient, consumer, and public health-oriented nonprofit organizations and advocates lack information about how to best use CER and communicate the importance of such research to their members, constituencies, or to the general public. To more successfully promote the effective use and broader acceptance of CER, it is necessary to more actively engage key stakeholders outside the medical field. The goal of the proposed conference is to encourage the acceptance, dissemination, and use of CER findings by increasing the engagement and commitment of consumer, patient, and public health advocates and organizations. Specific objectives are: 1) to increase knowledge of and commitment to CER among the individuals and organizations participating;2) to engage those stakeholders in actively promoting and effectively using CER findings;3) to identify and use the most effective strategies for reaching out to each organization's membership and constituencies to explain the benefits of CER as well as specific findings;and 4) to develop and disseminate a Conference Report that summarizes the information, strategies, and recommendations for patient, consumer, and public health nonprofit organizations and provides sample written materials that can be used by organizations and individual advocates to promote those goals. Actively engaging more organizations and advocates on comparative effectiveness research issues and findings, particularly those that reach millions of consumers and under-served patient populations, is an invaluable strategy that will greatly improve public understanding and support for the use of CER to improve medical care and public health.
The purpose of the proposed grant is to provide support needed to assure that a national working conference will encourage the acceptance, dissemination, and use of comparative effectiveness research findings by increasing the engagement and commitment of consumer, patient, and public health advocates and organizations. Actively engaging more organizations and advocates on CER issues and findings, particularly those that reach millions of consumers and under-served patient populations, is an invaluable strategy that will greatly improve public understanding and support for the use of CER to improve medical care and public health.
