American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Investments in Comparative Effectiveness Research for Inventory and Evaluation

This fact sheet details how American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds for the Office of the Secretary, Health and Human Services will be used to evaluate and identify gaps in knowledge to inform future priorities. Select for a list of funded projects on this topic.

The Need: Identify Gaps in Research

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds for the Office of the Secretary, Health and Human Services provide a unique opportunity for a meaningful and sustainable investment in building the foundation for comparative effectiveness research (CER) infrastructure. Significant investment in this activity is unlikely to come from any other source and will fundamentally change the landscape for CER.

However, the CER inventory analysis outlined in the Federal Coordinating Council's Report to Congress identified current gaps in the CER landscape.

The Solution: Inventory and Evaluation

Cataloging CER activities and infrastructure will be crucial to tracking investments in CER going forward. Public and private investments across the major activities will need to be assessed collectively to capture the entire spectrum of this important work. Through an iterative process, current and future CER efforts will be routinely evaluated to rapidly identify gaps in knowledge and inform future priority-setting.

Inventory and evaluation projects are listed below:

Inventory of Ongoing Comparative Effectiveness Research and Evaluation of Impact
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation
This program will focus on an iterative process through which current and future CER efforts will need to be routinely evaluated so as to rapidly identify gaps in knowledge and inform future priority setting.

Evaluation and Impact Assessment
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation
The objective of these assessments is to ensure that the complete portfolio of efforts is collectively achieving impact. Its purpose is not to evaluate the performance of specific projects or grants.

Funding Methods: Contracts
Project Durations: Various
Funding Amount: $8.22 million

Information on contract solicitations can be found at http://www.fbo.gov.