COMPARATIVE EFFECTIVENESS RESEARCH UNDER THE PATIENT PROTECTION AND AFFORDABLE CARE ACT: CAN NEW BOTTLES ACCOMMODATE OLD WINE?

Eleaonr D. Kinney, Indiana University School of Law -- Indianapolis

Abstract

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, initiated comprehensive health reform for the health care sector of the United States. PPACA has some strategies for the American health care sector to make health care more efficient and effective. PPACA’s comparative effectiveness initiative and the establishment of the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute are major strategies in this regard. This initiative is one of a long line of federal initiatives to address the rising costs of health care as well as obtain better value for health care expenditures. The key question is whether the governance and design features of the institute that will implement the initiative will enable it to succeed where other federal efforts have faltered. This article analyzes the federal government’s quest to ensure value for money expended in publically-funded health care programs and the health sector generally. The article will also analyze what factors contribute to the possible success or failure of the comparative effectiveness research initiative.