Meeting Agenda and Draft Questions for Deliberation Now Posted for Public Comment
The meeting agenda and draft questions for deliberation for the June 28th CEPAC meeting on community health workers are now posted for public comment:
Agenda
Draft Questions for Deliberation
Members of the public who wish to submit a comment on either the meeting agenda or questions for deliberation can do so here.
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New Members of CEPAC Named for 2013
ICER has announced the new members of the 2013 New England CEPAC (read full press release here). The members of CEPAC represent a wide variety of backgrounds, specialties and perspectives, and come from all six New England states. CEPAC consists of practicing physicians and methodologists with experience in evaluating and using evidence in the practice of healthcare, as well as patient/public members with experience in health policy, patient advocacy and public health. Representatives of state health programs and of regional private payers are included as ex-officio members of CEPAC. A full list of the 2013 CEPAC members, with brief biographies, is available here.
Read MoreNext Public Meeting of CEPAC to Address Community Health Worker Programs
ICER today announced that the next public meeting of the New England Comparative Effectiveness Public Advisory Council (CEPAC) will be held Friday, June 28, 2013 at MaineHealth in Portland, ME (read the full press release here). The topic of this meeting will be community health worker (CHW) programs. CEPAC members, drawn from clinical and public policy experts from all six New England states, will deliberate and vote on the effectiveness and value of CHW programs in order to determine which components of CHW programs are most associated with improved patient outcomes. A report produced by ICER that translates the findings of a recent comparative effectiveness review on this topic and includes supplemental economic and region-specific analyses will form the basis for the meeting. Meeting materials will be available online for public comment beginning May 24, 2013.
Date: Friday, June 28, 2013
Time: 10:00 AM – 4:00PM ET
Location: MaineHealth
110 Free Street
Portland, ME 04101
Members of the public wishing to attend the meeting must register by June 18, 2013 by visiting Meeting Registration; those wishing to submit written comments ahead of time, and those requesting the opportunity to make public comments at the meeting, can visit Reports.
Read MoreCEPAC Report on OSA featured in Boston Globe
The Boston Globe article, “Insurers Push Clinic Sleep Testing into Homes,” discusses the final CEPAC report, Diagnosis and Treatment of Obstructive Sleep Apnea in Adults. This report is based on CEPAC’s votes and deliberation during its December meeting, which highlighted the comparative effectiveness and value of home sleep testing for the diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea over other alternatives.
“Sleep HealthCenters, a chain of sleep clinics that included 11 in Massachusetts, cited the drop in insurance payments when it closed suddenly last week, leaving nearly 150 employees looking for work. Sleep medicine physicians say the change, which is likely to spread to other states, has occurred too quickly for them to adjust their business models and that insurers have taken it to an extreme, cutting some patients off from tests their doctors think they need. But a report released last week estimated that shifting three-quarters of the tests to the home could save New England’s health care system about $35 million a year.
Though workers have lost their jobs, the change in sleep testing is a prime example of the kind of shift — the replacement of an outmoded and expensive health care service with a cheaper technology — that’s necessary to control health care costs, said Austin Frakt, a Boston University health economist. ‘If we’re really going to save money in health care, it means that somebody’s going to get paid less,’ said Frakt, a member of the New England Comparative Effectiveness Public Advisory Council, which issued the report. ‘Maybe some of the ways of delivering health care just won’t be viable.’ “
Read the full article here.
Read MoreFinal Report and Action Guide from December CEPAC Meeting on OSA Now Available
Members of the New England Comparative Effectiveness Public Advisory Council (CEPAC) recently convened in Hartford, CT to vote on the evidence on diagnostic strategies and treatment options for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in adults. The results of this meeting, including CEPAC’s votes on the comparative clinical effectiveness and value of various diagnosis and treatment options for OSA, have been translated into a final report and Action Guide to help decision makers interpret and use the best available evidence in policy and practice. The Action Guide summarizes CEPAC’s findings and presents a list of specific evidence-based steps for patients, clinicians, and insurers that aim to improve patient outcomes and the overall value of OSA services.
Read the full press release here.
Read MoreNominations Open for CEPAC
The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) is seeking nominations of clinicians as well as patient and public representatives to serve on the New England Comparative Effectiveness Public Advisory Council (CEPAC) (read the press release). This round of nominations will result in the third iteration of CEPAC. New council members will be elected to serve for a three-year term. No council member is able to serve more than two consecutive three-year terms, though after one-year of absence, former council members are eligible to serve on CEPAC again. All CEPAC nominations should be submitted to ICER on or before February 19, 2013 and the final selection will be completed shortly thereafter. An online application form is available on ICER’s website at www.icer-review.org. Nomination by sponsoring organizations and self-nominations are both welcome. All nominations should be accompanied by a CV and a letter of interest from the nominee. Questions regarding activities of the CEPAC and eligibility of nominees can be addressed to Sarah Jane Reed at sjreed@icer-review.org, 617-643-4568.
Read MoreDraft Supplementary Report on Diagnosis and Treatment of Obstructive Sleep Apnea Now Posted for Public Comment
Members of CEPAC will convene on Thursday, December 6, 2012 in Hartford, Connecticut (meeting details here) to deliberate and vote on the evidence of the clinical effectiveness and comparative value of diagnostic and treatment options for adults with obstructive sleep apnea. The draft report includes supplementary analyses to augment the review “Diagnosis and Treatment of Obstructive Sleep Apnea in Adults” produced by AHRQ. To submit a public comment on the draft report, visit here.
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