WASHINGTON — Starting in 2012, the government will charge a new fee to your health insurance plan for research to find out which drugs, medical procedures, tests and treatments work best. But what will Americans do with the answers? The goal of the research, part of President Barack Obama’s health care law, is to answer such basic questions as whether that new prescription drug advertised on TV really works better than an old generic costing much less.
But in the politically charged environment surrounding health care, the idea of medical effectiveness research is eyed with suspicion.
The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute — a quasi-governmental agency created by Congress to do the research — has yet to commission a single head-to-head comparison.
“The more concerning thing is not the institute itself, but how the findings will be used in other areas,” said Kathryn Nix, a policy analyst for the conservative Heritage Foundation. “Will they be used to make coverage determinations?”
“We are not a policymaking body; our role is to make the evidence available,” said the institute’s director, Joe Selby, a primary care physician and medical researcher.
