Nominations Open for Members of the New England Comparative Effectiveness Public Advisory Council (CEPAC)

Boston, Mass., January 26, 2015 – The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) is seeking nominations of clinicians as well as patient and public representatives to serve on the New England Comparative Effectiveness Public Advisory Council (CEPAC).  CEPAC is a regional body that provides objective, independent guidance on the application of medical evidence to clinical practice and payer policy decisions across New England.  Supported by a consortium of New England state health policy leaders, provider groups, and payers, CEPAC holds public meetings to consider evidence reviews of medical tests, treatments, and models for health care delivery, and to provide judgments regarding how the evidence can best be used across New England to improve the quality and value of health care services. New council members will be elected to serve for a three-year term, during which they will attend two full-day meetings per year. No council member is able to serve more than two consecutive three-year terms, though after a one-year absence, former council members are eligible to serve on CEPAC again.

CEPAC is an independent body of 18 members, composed of clinicians, economists, and patient and public representatives, as well as two ex-officio payer representatives.  Prospective nominees should live in a New England state and have skills in the interpretation and application of medical evidence in health care delivery, including training in fields such as epidemiology, health services research, health economics, and decision sciences; or, practical experience in public health administration, system planning, and/or evaluation; public or private payer medical affairs; hospital or provider group quality management; consumer and patient engagement; and policy efforts to improve access to healthcare.  CEPAC day-long public meetings are held twice yearly in locations across New England.  The next CEPAC meeting will take place in May 2015.

All CEPAC members are eligible for travel reimbursement and all members (except ex-officio representatives) receive a $500 honorarium per meeting.  To reduce the appearance of possible conflicts of interest, prospective nominees, excluding ex-officio candidates, cannot be directly involved in making medical policy decisions for any New England state health agency, or be employees of any private insurer or life sciences industry company.  Candidates for the Council, excluding ex-officio candidates, cannot have substantial financial interests in the health care industry, defined as more than $25,000 in health care company stock, honoraria, or consultancy income from any one health care manufacturer or insurer, or more than $50,000 in combined assets from multiple health care manufacturers and insurers.

All CEPAC nominations should be submitted to ICER on or before February 23, 2015 and the final selection will be completed shortly thereafter.  To apply, please email a CV and letter of interest to info@icer-review.org. Nomination by sponsoring organizations and self-nominations are both welcome.  Questions regarding activities of CEPAC and eligibility of nominees can be addressed to Sarah Jane Reed at sjreed@icer-review.org, 617-528-4013 x7003.

About CEPAC

The New England Comparative Effectiveness Public Advisory Council (CEPAC) is an independent, regional body of practicing physicians, methodological experts, and leaders in patient advocacy and engagement that provides objective, independent guidance on the application of medical evidence to clinical practice and payer policy decisions across New England.

Council members are elected for three-year terms, and represent a diversity of expertise and perspective; they are purposely not selected for expertise in the clinical topic under discussion in order to maintain the objectivity of the Council and to ground the conversation in the interpretation of the published evidence rather than anecdotal experience or expert opinion. Acknowledging that any judgment of evidence is strengthened by real life clinical and patient perspectives, CEPAC recruits subject matter experts for each meeting who provide input to Council members before the meeting to help clarify CEPAC’s understanding of the different interventions being analyzed in the evidence review. The same clinical experts serve as a resource to the Council during their public deliberation, and help form recommendations with CEPAC on ways the evidence can be applied to policy and practice.

Led by the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review, CEPAC is supported by a broad coalition of state Medicaid leaders, integrated provider groups, public and private payers and patient representatives. For more information on CEPAC, please visit cepac.icer-review.org.

About ICER

The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) is an independent non-profit health care research organization dedicated to improving the interpretation and application of evidence in the health care system. ICER directs two core programs: the California Technology Assessment Forum (CTAF), and the New England Comparative Effectiveness Public Advisory Council (CEPAC). For more information about ICER, please visit ICER’s website, www.icer-review.org.

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