Listening to debates over health care reform, it's easy to conclude that we just don't know what works in medicine. The question of which therapies should be favored (and funded) is viewed as a vacuum filled by specialists, or special interest groups.

But the truth is, in many cases we do know what works. Answers can be found about many technologies and drugs in the robust data from ECRI Institute, an independent nonprofit organization that provides information on health care technology to leading health care institutions, and CMS, among other constituents.

"Comparative effectiveness is looking across a broad range of interventions to treat a disease to see what works. No one wants to be paying for things that don't work; it's not always an easy answer," said Laurie Menyo, a spokesperson for ECRI Institute. "Many of our evidence reports compare different types of treatments. We look at the evidence, pull clinical trials, and evaluate them based on quality," she said.

Special UHC Pricing

ECRI and University HealthSystem Consortium recently announced special pricing on ECRI's library of current technology research to inform buying decisions. The agreement offers UHC members broader access to medical technology information, direct contact with health technology experts, and on-demand responses through ECRI Institute's Health Technology Assessment Information Service™ (HTAIS™).

ECRI Institute gathers comparative effectiveness research across modalities. Topics range from medical devices that prevent venous thromboembolic disease in surgical patients to robotic catheter systems. The technology assessment program provides guidance to those who participate in hospital-based technology and value analysis committees and collaborates on projects to increase patient safety and the quality of care. ECRI Institute's HTAIS membership program includes evidence-based analyses of the comparative effectiveness of drugs, medical devices, and procedures, delivered through evidence reports, forecasting and trending tools, and online databases.

"The HTAIS is a membership program that hospitals and payers use to help them understand the role of new technology and the evidence behind its effectiveness," Menyo told DOTmed News. "We are synthesizing the data available from clinical trials and published literature."

Although the best data come from double-blinded, randomized control trials, these are not always available, so ECRI Institute also analyzes other reliable research.

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