[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 159 (Wednesday, August 19, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 41913-41914]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-19758]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality


AHRQ Intent To Publish Grant and Contract Solicitations for 
Comparative Effectiveness Research (CER) Projects With Funds From the 
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)

AGENCY: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), HHS.

ACTION: Notice of Intent.

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SUMMARY: AHRQ is announcing the Agency's intention to support new CER 
projects, with funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act 
(ARRA). The ARRA appropriated $300 million to AHRQ for support of CER. 
ARRA funding will focus, initially, on 14 priority conditions 
established by the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human 
Services under Section 1013 of the Medicare Prescription Drug, 
Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003. These priority conditions 
were identified through a process involving discussion with, and 
extensive input from, the public as well as Federal agencies. The list 
of priority conditions is relevant to the Medicare, Medicaid, and State 
Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) programs, and can be found 
at: http://effectivehealthcare.ahrq.gov/aboutUs.cfm?abouttype=program#Conditions.

DATES: AHRQ anticipates grant and contract solicitations to be 
published

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beginning in the fall, 2009, with funding to commence in spring, 2010. 
Interested parties may sign up to receive updates about AHRQ's 
Effective Health Care Program at http://effectivehealthcare.ahrq.gov/.

ADDRESSES: The future CER solicitations will be published in the NIH 
Guide: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/index.html.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Until the solicitations are published, 
AHRQ cannot provide information on their contents.
    Direct any general comments regarding the Effective Health Care 
program to: Lia Hotchkiss, MPH, PMP, Center for Outcomes and Evidence, 
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 540 Gaither Road, 
Rockville, MD 20850, Telephone: 301-427-1502, E-mail address: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background

    The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has been 
supporting comparative effectiveness research for many years and since 
2005 through AHRQ's Effective Health Care Program, which was authorized 
under Section 1013 of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and 
Modernization Act of 2003. The Effective Health Care program provides 
systematic reviews and develops other translational information and 
tools designed to inform health care decision making. The Effective 
Health Care Program advances the methodology of comparative 
effectiveness research (CER) and provides training grants to enhance 
the pool of researchers who can perform CER.

Comparative Effectiveness Research Initiative Description

    Funding Opportunity Announcements soliciting research grant 
applications for CER will provide $148 million for evidence generation. 
This includes $100 million for the Clinical and Health Outcomes 
Initiative in Comparative Effectiveness (CHOICE), a new, coordinated, 
national effort to establish a series of prospective pragmatic clinical 
comparative effectiveness studies that measure the benefits treatments 
produce in routine clinical practice and will include novel study 
designs focusing on real-world and under-represented populations 
(children, elderly, racial and ethnic minorities, and other 
understudied populations), and $48 million for the establishment or 
enhancement of national patient registries that can be used for 
researching the longitudinal effects of different interventions and 
collecting data on under-represented populations. Additional grant 
funding is expected to include $29.5 million to support innovative 
translation and dissemination grants related to CER, as well as $20 
million to support training and career development in CER.
    Requests for Contracts for CER will provide $9.5 million to 
establish an infrastructure to identify new and/or emerging issues for 
comparative effectiveness review investments. Also, $10 million will 
establish a Citizen's Forum to formally engage all stakeholders, and to 
expand and standardize public involvement in the entire Effective 
Health Care enterprise.
    Additionally, AHRQ anticipates supporting other grants ($1 million) 
and enhancing existing contracts for evidence synthesis ($50 million), 
evidence generation ($24 million), translation and dissemination ($5 
million), and salary and benefits for ARRA-related full-time equivalent 
positions ($3 million).

    Dated: August 11, 2009.
Carolyn M. Clancy,
AHRQ, Director.
[FR Doc. E9-19758 Filed 8-18-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4160-90-M