The big news in Washington over the weekend was the self-congratulatory nods toward Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-North Dakota) who introduced legislation that would form yet another committee to (pick one):
( ) Look at
( ) Monitor
( ) Compare
( ) Research
“what works” in medicine, The CommonWealth Fund’s Washington Health Policy Week in Review reported.
According to CQ HealthBeat, Baucus said on the Senate floor Friday:
“The corporation, which would be called the Health Care Comparative Effectiveness Research Institute, would be a private entity. But it would be governed by a public-private sector Board of Governors. It would not be an agency of the federal government.”
Federal agencies, however, as well as private corporations would oversee the committee, which is expected to bring in at least $300 million a year. Government officials have estimated that up to $700 billion a year in health spending could be eliminated through research identifying treatments that do not produce the best medical outcomes, CQ HealthBeat reported.
Think it will solve the health care crisis?
2 Comments
The right answer is: “think about but do nothing.”
Frankly the purpose of these kinds of agencies is to provide government funds to support “think tanks.” These often employ out of work politicians who want to remain within the Washington beltway before returning to their home states.
In the end, nothing of value will be produced by this $300 mill. About the only saving grace its a little less waste than Wichita middle-class taxpayers are financing for the unwanted, unneeded white elephant downtown ice hockey arena.
In defense of the study it does strike me that some of our systems seem to work better than others. Might we learn something by studying the successes and failures of different approaches. That said, it is hard for me to see $300 million.