In This Issue

Director's Letter

Director's Letter
by Seth A. Eisen, M.D., M.Sc.

This issue of FORUM focuses on the important topic of Comparative Effectiveness Research (CER). Both clinicians and patients appreciate the limited benchmarks available to inform clinical decisions and treatment options. Policymakers find themselves in a similar situation—making health care legislation in an evidence vacuum...

Commentary

Comparative Effectiveness Research — The New Imperative
by Peter L. Almenoff, M.D., FCCP, Assistant Deputy Under Secretary for Health for Quality and Safety, VA Central Office, Washington, D.C.

Concern over accelerated health care costs in the United States has increased sharply in recent years. The per capita spending of gross domestic product (GDP) in the United States on health care is greater than any other developed country...

Response to Commentary

Comparative Effectiveness Research and Beyond
by Paul G. Barnett, Ph.D., VA HSR&D's Health Economics Resource Center

Despite great advances in medical knowledge, the effectiveness of many health services is unknown. Comparative effectiveness research can close this gap and improve the quality of U.S. health care...

Research Highlights

Analysis of the Cost of an HIV Rapid Testing Initiative
by Matthew Bidwell Goetz, M.D., Center of Excellence for the Study of Healthcare Provider Behavior, VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System

The benefits of identifying and treating asymptomatic Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)-infected individuals substantially exceed those of early recognition of most medical conditions...

Estimating Future Costs of Prosthetic Devices
by David K. Blough, Ph.D., University of Washington, Seattle, Washington; Sharon Hubbard, M.S., Prosthetics Research Study, Seattle, Washington; Lynne V. McFarland, Ph.D., and Gayle E. Reiber, M.P.H., Ph.D., both with VA Puget Sound Health Care System, Seattle, Washington

Recently, the Department of Defense (DoD) issued a Rehabilitation Directive, the goal of which is to return service members with limb loss from Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OEF/ OIF) to pre-injury function and provide them the option of returning to active duty...

Readmission for Heart Failure
by Paul Heidenreich M.D., M.S., Chronic Heart Failure QUERI, VA Palo Alto Health Care System

Heart failure is a chronic syndrome associated with frequent exacerbations often resulting in hospitalization and death. Readmission for heart failure occurs within 30 days following 20 percent of discharges from the VA system with similar rates in the Medicare health care system...

Highlights of the 2009 HSR&D National Meeting

"Defining Optimal Care: Balancing Quality, Cost, and Patient Preferences" was the theme of the 27th VA Health Services Research and Development Service (HSR&D) National Meeting held February 11-13, 2009 in Baltimore...