Boston, Mass., January 6, 2011 – The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) is seeking nominations of clinicians and patient or public representatives to serve on the New England Comparative Effectiveness Public Advisory Council (CEPAC). CEPAC is a new regional body whose goal will be to provide objective, independent guidance on the application of medical evidence to clinical practice and payer policy decisions across New England. Supported by a federal grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), and with backing from a consortium of New England state health policy leaders, CEPAC will hold public meetings to consider evidence reviews of medical tests and treatments and provide judgments regarding how the evidence can best be used across New England to improve the quality and value of health care services.
CEPAC will be an independent body of 18 members, composed of clinicians and patient or public representatives from each New England state with skills in the interpretation and application of medical evidence in health care delivery. The CEPAC public meetings will be held twice yearly in locations across New England. Nominees should have experience with the uses of evidence in the health care system, including training in fields such as clinical practice, epidemiology, health services research, health economics, and decision sciences; or practical experience in public health administration; public or private payer medical affairs; hospital or provider group quality management; public health system planning and evaluation; and policy efforts to improve access to healthcare.
To reduce the appearance of possible conflict of interest, prospective nominees cannot be current employees of any New England state health agency, private insurer, or life sciences industry company. They may not have substantial financial interests in the healthcare industry, defined as more than $10,000 in healthcare company stock or more than $5,000 in honoraria or consultancies during the previous year from healthcare manufacturers or insurers.
The CEPAC selection process will be directed by the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER), a leading academic comparative effectiveness research group based at the Massachusetts General Hospital’s Institute for Technology Assessment. ICER will manage the CEPAC as part of its federally funded RAPiD (Regional Adaptation for Payer Policy Decisions) initiative meant to develop and test new ways to adapt federal evidence reviews to improve their usefulness for patients, clinicians, and payers.
All CEPAC nominations should be submitted to ICER on or before January 31, 2011 and the final selection will be completed shortly thereafter. An online application form is available on ICER’s website at www.icer-review.org. Nomination by sponsoring organizations and self-nominations are both welcome. All nominations should be accompanied by a CV and a letter of interest from the nominee. Questions regarding activities of the CEPAC and eligibility of nominees can be addressed to Sarah Emond at semond@icer-review.org, 617-724-5497.
About ICER
The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER), based at the Massachusetts General Hospital’s Institute for Technology Assessment (ITA) and an affiliate of Harvard Medical School, provides independent evaluation of the clinical effectiveness and comparative value of new and emerging technologies. Structured as a fully transparent organization, ICER seeks to achieve its ultimate mission of informing public policy and spurring innovation in the use of evidence to improve the value of health care for all. For more information, please visit www.icer-review.org.
Contact:
Sarah K. Emond
Institute for Clinical and Economic Review
617-724-5497
###