Wither comparative effectiveness?
"We are now right on the cusp of an era where we can get all the data we want," but getting the research methods and analytics right "is going to be quite critical," said Carolyn Clancy, director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
But data, as the saying goes, is like a bikini – what it shows you is interesting, but what it conceals is essential.
Clancy believes (and appropriately so) that data could help, say, a newly diagnosed cancer patient who wants to know, "What happens to people like me if I choose this path, that path or another path?"
They don’t call it the Critical Path for nothing.
Clancy: "Increasingly we're seeing in legislation the opportunity to inform policy with science, but the details really matter in getting it right."
Indeed. And those details need to lead us towards the “four rights” – the right medicine in the right dose at the right time for the right patient.
And that’s not comparative effectiveness – that’s clinical effectiveness.
