Professional Documents
Culture Documents
EVIDENCE-BASED
MEDICINE LANDSCAPE
Prepared by:
Bryan R. Luce, PhD, MBA
Rebecca Singer Cohen, MPP
Craig Hunter, MPP, PGDP
Lael Cragin, MPH
Jeanene Johnson, BA
April 2008
Phone: 1-301-654-9729
Fax: 1-301-654-9864
www.UnitedBioSource.com
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
I. GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
AHRQ Organizational Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
National Advisory Council for Healthcare Research and Quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Evidence-Based Practice Center (EPC) Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12
Effective Health Care (EHC) Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15
Comparative Effectiveness Reviews (CERs) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18
Centers for Education & Research on Therapeutics (CERT) Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22
CMS’s Coverage with Evidence Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24
Coverage with Appropriateness Determination (CAD) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24
Coverage with Study Participation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25
Data Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26
HHS Value-Driven Health Care Initiative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27
Chronic Conditions Data Warehouse (CCW) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27
The Department of Defense PharmacoEconomic Center (PEC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28
Veterans Affairs Technology Assessment Program (VATAP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28
National Institutes of Health- Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28
National Institutes of Health- Antihypertensive and Lipid Lowering Treatment to
Prevent Heart Attack Trial (ALLHAT) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29
National Institutes of Health- Clinical Antipsychotic Trials of Intervention Effectiveness (CATIE) . . . . . . . . .30
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention- Evaluation of Genomic Application
in Practice and Prevention (EGAPP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30
Oregon Health & Science University Drug Effectiveness Review Project (DERP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31
Medicaid Evidence-Based Decisions Project (MED) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33
Washington State Health Technology Assessment Program (SHTAP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33
Biographies of key AHRQ individuals involved in EBM are provided in Appendix A. The following sections
describe in further detail the EBM programs supported by AHRQ, including their organizational sub-structure
and key individuals.
Current Members
(See Appendix B for National Advisory Council biographies.)
TABLE 1. National Advisory Council for Healthcare Research and Quality as of April 2008
T A BLE 1. National Advisory Council for Healthcare Research and Quality as of April 200
Jane F. Barlow, MD, Dale W. Bratzler, DO, Timothy J. Brei, MD (2009)
MPH, MBA (2009) MPH (2008) Clinical Assistant Professor of
Vice President Medical QIOSC Medical Director Pediatrics
Strategy & Clinical Quality Oklahoma Foundation for Medical The James Whitcomb Riley Hospital
Medco Health Solutions, Inc. Quality, Inc. for Children
100 Parsons Pond Drive, Mailstop 14000 Quail Springs Parkway, Suite 702 Barnhill Drive, Room 1601
F2-16 400 Indianapolis, IN 46202-5200
Franklin Lakes, NJ 07417 Oklahoma City, OK 73134 Phone: (317) 274-4846
Phone: (201) 269-3539 Phone: (405) 840-2891 X209 Fax: (317) 278-0126
E-mail: jane_barlow@medco.com Fax: (405) 840-1343 E-mail: tbrei@iupui.edu
E-mail: dbratzler@okqio.sdps.org
Patricia Flatley Brennan, PhD, RN, Andrew J. Fishmann, MD, FCCP, Robert S. Galvin, MD (2010)
FAAN, FACMI (2008) FACP (2009) Director, Global Health Care
Moehlman Professor of Nursing and Director, Intensive Care Unit General Electric
Industrial Engineering Good Samaritan Hospital 376 Hillside Road
University of Wisconsin-Madison California Lung Associates Fairfield, CT 06824
600 Highland Avenue H6/241 1245 Wilshire Boulevard, Phone: (203) 373-3435
Madison, WI 53792 Suite 407 robert.galvin@ge.com
Phone: (608) 263-5251 Los Angeles, CA 90017
Fax: (608) 263-5251 Phone: (213) 977-4979
E-mail: pbrennan@engr.wisc.edu Fax: (213) 977-0544
E-mail: fish248@aol.com
Kathleen Lohr, PhD (2010) Thomas P. Miller, JD (2009) Neil R. Powe, MD, MPH, MBA
Distinguished Fellow, American Enterprise Institute (2009)
Health Services Research 1150 Seventeenth Street, NW Director, Welch Center for
RTI International Washington, DC 20036 Prevention, Epidemiology &
PO Box 12194 Phone: (202) 862-5886 Clinical Research
3040 Cornwallis Road Fax: (202) 828-7177 Professor of Medicine,
Research Triangle Park, NC E-mail: tmiller@aei.org Epidemiology and Health Policy &
27709-2194 Management
Phone: (919) 541-6512 The Johns Hopkins University
E-mail: klohr@rti.org School of Medicine and Bloomberg
School of Public Health
2024 E. Monument Street,
Suite 2-600
Baltimore, MD 21287-2223
Phone: (410) 955-6953
Fax: (410) 955-0476
E-mail: npowe@jhmi.edu
William Smith, PharmD, MPH, Myrl Weinberg, CAE (2010) Anthony C. Wisniewski,
PhD, FASHP (2010) President, National Health Council JD (2009)
Executive Associate Dean 1730 M. Street, NW Executive Director, Health Policy
School of Pharmacy Suite 500 U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Virginia Commonwealth University Washington, DC 20036 1615 H Street, NW
Smith Building Phone: (202) 785-3910 Washington, DC 20006
Suite 155 E-mail: mweinberg@nhcouncil.org Phone: (202) 463-5500
Richmond, VA 23298-0581 E-mail: awisniewski@uschamber.com
Phone: (804) 828-3009
E-mail: wesmith1@vcu.edu
TABLE 2. USPSTF
TABLE Members
2. USPSTF as of
Members asMay 2007
of May 2007
Bruce N. Calonge, MD, Diana B. Petitti, MD, MPH (Vice Allen J. Dietrich, MD
MPH (Chair) Chair) Professor, Community and Family
Chief Medical Officer and Adjunct Professor Medicine
State Epidemiologist University of Southern California Dartmouth Medical School
Colorado Department of Public Los Angeles, CA
Health and Environment,
Denver, CO
George Isham, MD, MS Michael L. LeFevre, MD, MSPH Rosanne Leipzig, MD, PhD
Medical Director and Chief Health Professor, Department of Family and Professor, Geriatrics and Adult
Officer Community Medicine Development, Medicine,
HealthPartners University of Missouri School of Health Policy
Minneapolis, MN Medicine Mount Sinai School of Medicine
Columbia, MO
Lucy N. Marion, PhD, RN Bernadette Melnyk, PhD, RN, Virginia A. Moyer, MD, MPH
Dean and Professor, School of CPNP./NPP Professor, Department of Pediatrics
Nursing Dean and Distinguished Foundation Director of the Fellowship Program
Medical College of Georgia Professor in Nursing in Academic General Pediatrics
Augusta, GA College of Nursing & Healthcare Baylor College of Medicine,
Innovation Houston, TX
Arizona State University Phoenix, AZ Associate Director of Ambulatory
Services
Texas Children’s Hospital Houston,
TX
Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, Oregon Evidence-Based Practice Center †
Technology Evaluation Center (collaboration between OHSU School of Medicine,
Director: Naomi Aronson, PhD the Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Center, and the
Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research)
Director: Mark Helfand, MD, MS, MPH
Duke University * ‡
Director: David B. Matchar, MD
University of Connecticut
Head: Douglas McCrory, MD
Co-Director: C. Michael White, PharmD
Co-Director: Craig Coleman, PharmD
ECRI *
Director: Karen Schoelles, MD, SM RTI International —
Principal Investigator: Vivian H. Coates, MBA University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill††
Co-Director: Kathleen N. Lohr, PhD (RTI)
Co-Director: Timothy S. Carey, MD, MPH (UNC)
Johns Hopkins University ‡
Director: Eric B. Bass, MD, MPH
Co-Director: Neil R. Powe, MD, MPH, MBA Southern California Evidence-Based Practice Center-
Co-Director: Karen A. Robinson, MSc RAND
Director: Paul Shekelle, MD, PhD
McMaster University
Director: Parminder Raina, PhD
Vanderbilt University
Director: Katherine E. Hartmann, MD, PhD
University of Alberta, Canada Assoc. Director for Methods: Sandra Micucci, MSC
Director: Terry P. Klassen, MD, MSc
Associate Director: Brian H. Rowe, MD, MSc
Associate Director: Donna Dryden, PhD
Tufts University — New England Medical Center *
Co-Director: Lisa Hartling, BScPT, MSc
Director: Joseph Lau, MD
* Three EPCs (Duke University, ECRI, and Tufts University) focus on technology assessments for CMS.
† The Oregon EPC focuses on evidence reports for the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF).
‡ Three EPCs (Duke University, Johns Hopkins University, and RTI International—University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) also serve as DEcIDE Research Centers as
part of the Effective Health Care Program, discussed in a subsequent section.
Obstetric and Gynecologic Conditions Adverse Maternal & Child Health Outcomes Associated with Maternal
Weight Gain (mid 2008)
Assisted Reproductive Technology, Effectiveness and Efficiency (mid 2008)
Bariatric Surgery in Women of Reproductive Age (mid 2008)
Elective Induction of Labor (mid 2008)
Pediatric Adverse Maternal & Child Health Outcomes Associated with Maternal
Weight Gain (mid 2008)
Effectiveness of Weight Reduction Programs in Children (mid 2008)
† Three DEcIDE
Research Centers Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD †
(Duke University,
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine,
PI: Albert W. Wu, MD Philadelphia, PA
Johns Hopkins
University, and PI: Sean Hennessy, PharmD, PhD
RTI International) also
Outcome Sciences, Cambridge, MA
serves as EPCs.
PI: Richard E. Gliklich, MD
DEcIDE=Developing Vanderbilt University Medical Center,
Evidence to Inform
Nashville, TN
Decisions about RTI International, Research Triangle Park, NC †
Muscle, bone, Comparative Effectiveness of Drug Therapy for Rheumatoid Arthritis and Completed
joint conditions Psoriatic Arthritis in Adults
Comparative Effectiveness of Treatments To Prevent Fractures in Men and Completed
Women With Low Bone Density or Osteoporosis
Comparative Effectiveness and Safety of Analgesics for Osteoarthritis Completed
Research DRAFT: Methods Reference Guide for Effectiveness and Comparative In progress
methodology Effectiveness Reviews
TABLE
TABLE6.7.Comparative Effectiveness
EHC Program’s ReviewsProjects
DEcIDE Research (CERs) by Priority
as of Condition
May 2007
Priority Condition DEcIDE Research Projects Status
Brain and nerve Methods for Studying Dementia Treatment and Outcomes in In progress
conditions Observational Databases
Cancer Testing Cancer Quality Measures for End of Life Care In progress
Advancing Research Methodology for Measuring and Monitoring In progress
Patient-Centered Communications in Cancer Care
Diabetes Comparative Effectiveness and Safety of New Therapies for Glucose In progress
Control in Diabetes Mellitus
Heart and blood Development of a Software Tool for Obtaining Doubly Robust Estimate In progress
vessel conditions of Treatment Effects
Development of Statistical Estimators to Address Questions of In progress
Comparative Effectiveness in Elderly Heart Failure Patients
Duke University Medical * Therapies for disorders of the heart and Eric Peterson, MD, MS
Center blood vessels
HMO Research Network Drug use; safety and effectiveness studies in Richard Platt, MD, MSc
health maintenance organization populations
University of Arizona Reduction of drug interactions that result in Raymond L. Woosley, MD,
Health Sciences Center harm to women PhD
University of Pennsylvania Therapies for infection; antibiotic drug resistance Brian L. Strom, MD, MPH
School of Medicine
Vanderbilt University Prescription drug use in a Medicaid population Wayne A. Ray, PhD
Medical Center
Rutgers, The State University Safe and effective use of treatments for Stephen Crystal, PhD
of New Jersey mental health problems
Baylor College of Medicine Consumers and strategies to help patients Maria E. Suarez-Almazor,
take prescription medications appropriately MD, PhD
Weill Cornell Medical Center Medical devices Alvin I. Mushlin, MD, ScM
University of Chicago Clinical and economic issues in hospital settings David Meltzer, MD, PhD
Brigham and Women’s Hospital Health information technology David Bates, MD, MSc
University of Illinois at Chicago Tools for optimizing prescribing Bruce L. Lambert, PhD
* The Duke University Medical Center also serves as the Coordinating Center, which is directed by Robert M. Califf, MD
The CERTs receive funds from both public and private sources, with AHRQ providing core financial support.
The research conducted by the CERTs program has three major aims:
1. To increase awareness of both the uses and risks of new drugs and drug combinations, biological products,
and devices, as well as of mechanisms to improve their safe and effective use.
2. To provide clinical information to patients and consumers; health care providers; pharmacists, pharmacy
(HMOs) and health care delivery systems; insurers; and government agencies.
3. To improve quality while reducing cost of care by increasing the appropriate use of drugs, biological
products, and devices and by preventing their adverse effects and the consequences of these effects (such as
unnecessary hospitalizations).
Data Sources
CMS may require that data be sent to a centralized database (formal registry). Data collected under CAD will
commonly be submitted to an approved registry and then sent to CMS to ensure that the item or service was
provided in accordance with the NCD, which is payment data. Data submission to a registry may also be
necessary within clinical studies required under CSP. CMS will use the information to meet specific CAD and/or
CSP determinations for Medicare beneficiaries, but the data will also be available to researchers to evaluate
patient safety and health benefits, comparative effectiveness, utilization and diffusion of the item or service, and
variations in outcomes among providers or patients. The data may also be used to evaluate the long-term
outcomes, patient management issues, mortality, and post-coverage utilization of services, or to conduct other
observational studies. The length of data collection will be determined by the requirements of the NCD, and
CMS will use discretion in determining the research that will be funded.
If CMS determines that the evidence for a service or item is inadequate to establish coverage (under section
1862(a) (1) (A)), Medicare may still reimburse for that item or service for beneficiaries enrolled in a research
study that provides data and information to be used to evaluate that item or service, as well as reimburse for the
routine costs incurred by beneficiaries in the study. However, to qualify for reimbursement, the study must be
designed to produce evidence that could be used in a future NCD. In addition, CMS will only provide payment
for clinical research that meets the standards to be outlined in the revision of the Clinical Trial Policy. The length
of data collection will be outlined in the study protocol, and CMS will pay for the clinical costs of patient care for
beneficiaries for which data collection is required.
The following principles govern the application of CED:
1. NCDs requiring CED will occur within the NCD processes, which is transparent and open to
public comment.
2. CED will not be used when other forms of coverage are justified by the available evidence.
3. CED will in general expand access to technologies and treatments for Medicare beneficiaries.
4. CMS expects to use CED infrequently.
5. CED will lead to the production of evidence complementary to existing medical evidence.
6. CED will not duplicate or replace the FDA’s authority in assuring the safety, efficacy, and security of drugs,
biological products, and devices.
7. CED will not assume the NIH’s role in fostering, managing, or prioritizing clinical trials.
8. Any application of CED will be consistent with federal laws, regulations, and patient protections.
1 A cholesterol lowering drug was added to this “usual care” group when their doctor believed that it was necessary for their health.
PRIVATE NON-
PROFITS AND STATES
DERP commenced its reviews in November 2003, with ten member organizations, and has since expanded to
include fourteen participants: thirteen states (Arkansas, Idaho, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri,
Montana, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming) and the Canadian Agency
for Drugs and Technologies in Health). Participating organizations have used DERP reports not only for
Medicaid coverage decisions, including setting preferred drug lists (PDLs), but also to inform drug coverage
policy for state employees or other public programs. Notably, Consumers Union (CU) and AARP, although not
DERP members, have begun adapting DERP reviews for consumers. Consumers Union (CU), publisher of
Consumer Reports magazine, has adopted the DERP reports as one critical component of a free public
information project, started in December 2004, on the comparative effectiveness, safety, and cost of prescription
drugs. Drawing on other sources and adding information on drug costs, the Best Buy Drugs Web site
(www.bestbuydrugs.org) chooses Best Buy drugs in each category it evaluates. Similarly, the American
Association for Retired Persons (AARP) has introduced its Web site, www.aarp.org/health/comparedrugs/, which
publishes the DERP reports for members to consult.
The Oregon Evidence-Based Practice Center (Oregon EPC) conducts the reviews and assigns, coordinates and
oversees reviews conducted by other EPCs, updates reviews on a 6-month schedule, and ensures the production
of its reports. The Oregon EPC provides support to the participating organizations in developing key questions
for the reviews, interpreting the reports, and by being available to answer specific questions.
Website: http://www.ohsu.edu/drugeffectiveness
ENHANCED HEALTH CARE VALUE FOR ALL ACT OF 2007 (H.R. 2184)
Introduced May 7, 2007, by Rep. Allen (D-ME); co-sponsored by Rep. Emerson (D-MO)
• Amends Section 1013 of the MMA of 2003 “…to expand comparative effectiveness research and to
increase funding for such research to improve the value of health care.”
• Scope to include all “Federal health care programs,” including:
Programs under title XVIII, XIX, or XXI of SSA
Federal employees health benefits program
Dept. of Veteran Affairs
TRICARE
Indian Health Service (IHS)
• Funding
Comes from a newly established Trust Fund
Money comes from fees on each policy written for a cover life (i.e., proportional payments
per covered lives) as an equal percentage of total moneys gathered that year
$100M in FY 2008
$200M in FY 2009
$900M in each FY 2010-2012
Medicare contribution capped at $200M in any given year, regardless of lives covered
I. Priority: The Secretary of HHS, “…shall develop a comprehensive prioritized list of comparative clinical
effectiveness studies that are most critical to building the evidence needed to advance value-based purchasing
of covered part D drugs….”
II. Prioritized list will:
a. specify items and services to be evaluated;
b. include the methodology to use in each identified study “…taking into account the full range of
mythologies available, from systematic reviews to clinical trials;” and
c. be delivered in draft form to the Congress within 1 year of enactment with final version delivered following
a 60-day public comment period.
III.Development of prioritized list will take into consideration:
a. work already completed by AHRQ, including areas in which AHRQ has deemed evidence as insufficient;
b. priority medical conditions developed for section 1013;
c. “areas where patients and doctors are most lacking the information needed to make the best decision
regarding covered Part D drugs, such as the areas where there is a large gap in knowledge of drug therapies
and areas that involve the most widely prescribed covered part D drugs;” and
i. “…areas where patients and doctors…” part of this section leaves an open door to consider anything
ii. latter half of this part encourages CE applied to most prescribed part D drugs, but does not mandate it
H.R. 3162: THE CHILDREN’S HEALTH AND MEDICARE PROTECTION ACT OF 2007
The debate around comparative effectiveness research in the House last summer was folded in to the larger
health care debate on children’s health insurance that intensified with the impending expiration of the SCHIP
authorization in September of 2007. This bill, nicknamed the “CHAMP” bill (for the Children’s Health and
Medicare Protection Act) incorporated language closely derived from H.R. 2184 (see above) and established a
Center for Comparative Effectiveness under AHRQ to “conduct, support, and synthesize research with respect to
the outcomes, effectiveness, and appropriateness of health care services and procedures.”
Funding for this center would begin with $300 million from 2008 to 2010 and $375 million per year thereafter,
originating with the Medicare trust funds, and transfer over time to insurance companies. This contribution
would be calculated as a per capita amount multiplied by the average number of lives per policy.
The Center would be overseen by two governing bodies. The first, entitled a Comparative Effectiveness
Research Commission, would be comprised of major stakeholders in government and the private sector and
monitor the quality of research conducted at the Center. Manufacturing stakeholders are not explicitly listed in
the bill as potential appointees, but are similarly not excluded from playing this kind of role. The second, a
Council for Health Services Research, would be comprised of a larger proportion of research- focused
government stakeholders with the intention of advising the Secretary on health services research priorities and
agenda setting.
Due in part to the political jostling around the reauthorization of SCHIP, the CHAMP bill was not passed into
law. However, the CHAMP bill represents the current position and perspective of the House of Representatives
on comparative effectiveness, and further debate will likely use this language as a starting point. As we anticipated
in the previous report in August 2007, this remains the primary vehicle in the House for the establishment of a
comparative effectiveness research entity.
Sean Tunis, MD, MSc Gail Wilensky, PhD Rita Redberg, MD, MSc, FACC
Founder and Director Senior Policy Advisor Clinical Advisor
2 Footnote: Institute of Medicine (IOM). 2008. Knowing what works in health care: A roadmapfor the nation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.)
ECRI INSTITUTE
ECRI Institute (formerly the Emergency Care Research Institute) is a nonprofit health services research
agency and a Collaborating Center of the World Health Organization (WHO). In addition, it is designated as an
Evidence-based Practice Center (EPC) by AHRQ. ECRI’s mission is to promote high standards of safety, quality,
and cost-effectiveness in health care to benefit patient care through research, publishing, education and
consulting. Its focus is health care technology, health care risk and quality management, patient safety
improvement and health care environmental management. ECRI provides information services and technical
assistance to more than 5,000 hospitals, health care organizations, ministries of health, government and planning
agencies, voluntary sector organizations, associations, and accrediting agencies worldwide. It offers more than
30 databases, publications, information services, and technical assistance services.
ECRI’s services alert readers to health care system and technology-related hazards with strategies to correct
them; disseminate the results of medical product evaluations and health technology assessments; provide expert
advice on technology acquisitions, staffing, and management; report on hazardous materials management policy
and practices; and supply authoritative information on risk control in health care facilities and clinical practice
guidelines and standards.
ECRI has served as an AHRQ-designated EPC since 1997. While most EPCs are located within academic
institutions, ECRI’s evidence-based medicine and health technology assessment activities are funded in a public-
private cooperative model that relies on a variety of Federal and State government funding, as well as commercial
sales of ECRI’s evidence-based health policy resources, available through its Health Technology Assessment
Information Service (HTAIS). The resources of ECRI’s technology assessment work are used by a wide variety
of constituencies, including public and private payers, providers, clinical specialty societies, regulators, industry,
and patients and their families.
In addition to its capabilities in traditional health technology assessment methodology, the staff of the ECRI
EPC also has expertise in research design and evaluation, outcomes data analysis and modeling, horizon
scanning, and health policy analysis.
ECRI’s other activities include such diverse areas as:
• Methodology support for clinical practice guideline development.
• Development of evidence-based information for patients and their families.
• Patient safety program development.
• Adverse event reporting systems.
• Health technology planning and engineering evaluation.
• Technology acquisition and procurement assistance.
• Accident and forensic investigation.
High Blood Pressure, Heart Failure – The ACE Inhibitors Asthma and Lung Disease – Inhaled Steroids
Allergies, Hay Fever, and Hives – Antihistamines Heart Disease and High Blood Pressure – Beta Blockers
Treating Heart Disease, Heart Attacks, Angina, High Blood Pressure – Calcium Channel Blockers
and Stroke – Antiplatelets
Drugs for Heartburn, Acid Reflux Disease – The PPIs Opioids – Treating Chronic Pain
Treating Bipolar Disorder, Nerve Pain Treating Type 2 Diabetes – The Oral Diabetes Drugs
and Fibromyalgia – The Anticonvulsants
The Consumers Union emphasizes that their findings are intended to assist consumers in discussing with
their doctors which medicines are best for them. Best Buy picks are based on assessments of all the drugs in a
class, and a comparison of the drugs in that class to each other. The main criteria used are a drug’s effectiveness,
it’s safety, the side effects it may cause, it’s convenience of use (for example, how many pills you have to take each
day), its track record in studies and actual use, and of course how much it costs relative to others drugs. There is
no set formula for choosing Best Buys. The factors differ in each category, and some of those factors are quite
subtle. However, in general, Best Buys are chosen because they are: (a) as effective as all the other drugs in the
category, or more so; (b) as safe and cause no more - and usually fewer - side effects than other drugs in the
category; and (c) cost less on average than other drugs in the category. That is not always true, though. Several of
According to their website, the project is aimed at helping the uninsured, seniors without any drug coverage,
insured people with high co-pays, employers, insurance companies, unions and anyone interested in getting a
better value for their health-care dollar. As such, multiple organizations have partnered with the Consumers
Union to educate their members about the Best Buy Drugs project and include:
• AFL-CIO
• Alliance for Retired Americans
• American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
• American Public Health Association
• American Medical Student Association
• Common Cause
• Consumer Federation of America
• Families USA
• National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare
• National Education Association
• U.S. Public Interest Research Group
Center for Science in the Public Interest National Environmental Education &
http://www.cspinet.org/ Training Foundation
http://www.neetf.org/
* Note: a list of updated 2008 Member Organizations has not been posted to their website.
Marianne Hamilton, MPA, serves as the US Cochrane Center’s Consumer Coordinator.
David Marshall
Vice President, Commercial Operations
Teva Pharmaceuticals USA
OCTOBER 2006
Organization: The Health Industry Forum, Brandeis University
Event: Coverage Policy in an Era of Personalized Medicine: Evaluating and Paying for
Genetic Testing Services
Date: October 12, 2006
Location: Washington, D.C.
Description: N/A – see agenda at link below
Website: http://healthforum.brandeis.edu/meetings.htm
http://healthforum.brandeis.edu/October%2012,%202006/Agenda_Web%2010.12.06.pdf
Event: The 28th Annual Meeting of the Society for Medical Decision Making
Date: October 15-18, 2006
Location: Boston, MA
Description: N/A
Website: http://smdm.confex.com/smdm/2006ma/techprogram/MEETING.HTM
NOVEMBER 2006
Organization: The Health Industry Forum, Brandeis University
FEBRUARY 2007
Organization: Massachusetts Health Data Consortium
Event: Improving Healthcare Quality and Value: The Role of Comparative Effectiveness Research
Date: March 29, 2007
Location: Washington, D.C. (National Press Club)
Description: N/A
Website: http://hs.odu.edu/hs/newsevents/nfhkm_agenda.pdf
Event: Public forum on the central role patients should play in evidence-based health care
Date: April 19, 2007
Location: Webcast
Description: N/A – see agenda at link below
Website: http://healthforum.brandeis.edu/meetings.htm
Event: 2007 CADTH Symposium - Informing Policy, Influencing Practice, Improving Health
Date: April 22-24, 2007
Location: Ottawa, Ontario
Description: Multiple relevant sessions on HTA and EBM — see event program for full descriptions.
Website: http://www.cadth.ca/index.php/en/events/sympos-2007
Organization: Institute of Medicine (IOM) Forum on the Science of Health Care Quality
Improvement and Implementation
Event: York Expert Workshops in the Socio Economic Evaluation of Medicines 2007
Date: June 13-15/18-22/25-27, 2007
Location: York, UK
Description: Session of interest: Meeting Decision-Makers’ Requirements: Advanced Methods for
Cost Effectiveness Analysis (06/18-22).
Website: http://www.york.ac.uk/inst/che/training/expert.htm
Event: 9th Rocky Mountain Workshop on How to Practice Evidence-Based Health Care
Date: August 5-9, 2007
Location: Colorado Springs, CO
Description: This five-day, hands-on workshop is held annually in the summer at one of the beautiful resorts in
the Rocky Mountains. It features a cadre of world-renowned teachers, practitioners and researchers
from the arena of evidence-based health care. Funded in part by a grant from AHRQ, this five-day
workshop will focus on teaching the basics of, and developing further insights into, the
conscientious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients
or the delivery of health services.
Website: http://news.cochrane.org/view/item/review_one.jsp?j=810
Organization: São Paulo Center for Health Economics at the Federal University of São Paulo
(Centro Paulista de Economia da Saúde – CPES)
Event: 24th Conference for the International Society for Quality in Health Care (ISQua)
Date: September 30 – October 3, 2007
Location: Boston, MA
Description: The International Society for Quality in Health Care conference focus is on the methodologies that
facilitate safe, quality health care. From invited plenary presentations, selected panels, oral and
poster presentations, participants will have opportunities to explore collaborative approaches to
quality improvement among users, providers and funders, and to examine new systems and ideas.
With the theme of Transforming Healthcare in the Electronic Age, this multidisciplinary quality health
care program will be of value to all health policy makers, planners, professionals, administrators,
researchers, educators and their representatives.
Website: http://www.isqua.org/isquaPages/boston07.html
Event: The 29th Annual Meeting of the Society for Medical Decision Making
Date: October 21-24, 2007
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Description: N/A
Website: http://www.smdm.org/
Event: 2007 Medical Leadership Forum: Evidence-based Solutions to Health Care’s Challenge
Date: October 22-24, 2007
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Description: This year’s Forum offers a unique opportunity to discuss key health issues that challenge the
delivery and financing of care with nationally recognized leaders.
Website: http://www.ahip.org/links/medmgt2007/
Organization: Q1 Productions
Event: Evidence-Based Medicine Conference: Examining the Best Practices in Data Analysis,
Review and Collection to Support Labeling and Reimbursement Claims through Strategic
Evidence-Based Medicine Practices
Date: October 22-23, 2007
Location: Baltimore, MD
Description: Through addressing a range of topics related to the best practices in evidence-based medicine, this
conference program will provide attendees with the need to know information related to health
economics and outcomes research within the pharmaceutical and biotechnologies industry. Building
upon early Q1 successes including the PRO 2006 conference as well as the Phase IV Clinical
Research and Patient Registries conferences, this program will be a meeting of the minds and will
address both strategic and tactical questions related to improving overall health quality of life
through evidence-based medicine.
Website: http://www.q1productions.com/events_EvidenceBasedMedicine.htm
Event: NICE 2007 Annual Conference and Exhibition: Evidence into Practice
Date: December 5-6, 2007
Location: Manchester, UK
Description: NICE 2007 will address how NICE uses expert advice and evidence to develop guidance, and will
offer practical and realistic examples for those working in the NHS and wider public health
community on the best ways to turn recommendations into reality.
Website: http://www.nice2007.co.uk/
JANUARY 2008
Organization: Health Economists’ Study Group (HESG)
Organization: AdvaMed
Event: Leadership Colloquium and Quality Award Gala; Board of Directors Meeting
Date: March 14-15, 2008
Location: Washington, D.C.
Description: N/A
Website: http://www.qualityforum.org/
Event: 4th Saudi Annual Workshop; Systematic Review Workshop; 4th Saudi Annual Conference
Date: May 7-8, 2008
Location: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Description: N/A
Website: http://www.ngha.med.sa/ebm/Events/2008/index.htm?L2ID=2004
Organization: AcademyHealth
Organization: AdvaMed
Event: 2008 Annual Meeting and Policy Conference on Quality; Board of Directors Meeting
Date: October 15-17, 2008
Location: Washington, D.C., Arlington, VA
Description: N/A
Website: http://www.qualityforum.org/
MARCH 2009
Organization: National Quality Forum (NQF)
Event: Ongoing project: Reviewing Evidence to Identify Highly Effective Clinical Services
Date: Various
Location: Washington, D.C.
Description: The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has funded this study to address problems in our system for
evaluating clinical evidence and to propose changes in the way we marshal evidence and apply it to
endorse the most effective clinical interventions. The IOM committee is specifically charged with
recommending a sustainable, replicable approach to identifying and evaluating the clinical services
that have the highest potential effectiveness.
Website: http://www8.nationalacademies.org/cp/projectview.aspx?key=HCSX-H-05-09-A
Carolyn M. Clancy, MD
Director
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
Department of Health and Human Services
Contact information:
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
540 Gaither Road, 3rd Floor
Rockville, MD 20850
Phone: 301–427–1200
Fax: 301–427–1201
Email: carolyn.clancy@ahrq.hhs.gov
Background: Carolyn M. Clancy, MD, who is a general internist and health services researcher, was appointed
Director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) on February 5, 2003. Prior to her
appointment, Dr. Clancy had served as AHRQ’s Acting Director since March 2002 and previously was Director
of the Agency’s Center for Outcomes and Effectiveness Research (COER). Before joining AHRQ in 1990, she was
also an assistant professor in the Department of Internal Medicine at the Medical College of Virginia in
Richmond. Her medical specialties include primary care medicine and women’s health.
Dr. Clancy holds an academic appointment at George Washington University School of Medicine (Clinical
Associate Professor, Department of Medicine) and serves as Senior Associate Editor, Health Services Research.
Dr. Clancy has served on multiple editorial boards (currently Annals of Family Medicine, American Journal of
Medical Quality, and Medical Care Research and Review; formerly Journal of General Internal Medicine,
American Journal of Public Health, and Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice.)
Dr. Clancy has published widely in peer-reviewed journals and has edited or contributed to seven books. In
addition, she has presented multiple research papers at academic conferences and spoken to diverse audiences
and the media on health care issues. Dr. Clancy was elected a Master of the American College of Physicians in
2004 and is an elected member of the National Academy of Social Insurance. She has also held leadership
positions in multiple other professional organizations, including the Society of General Internal Medicine. She is
a member of the Institute of Medicine.
Education: Dr. Clancy holds a bachelor’s of science (BS), magna cum laude, in math and chemistry from Boston
College (1975) and a doctorate of medicine (MD) from the University of Massachusetts School of Medicine
(1979).
Her postdoctoral training includes: the Kennedy Institute of Bioethics Intensive Course at Georgetown
University in 1989; the Stanford Faculty Development Program in Clinical Teaching in 1988; and, the Henry
Kaiser Family Foundation Fellow in General Internal Medicine from 1982–84 at the Hospital of the University
of Pennsylvania.
Research interests: Her major research interests include various dimensions of health care quality and patient,
including women’s health, primary care, access to care services, and the impact of financial incentives on
physicians’ decisions.
Background: Ms. Kendrick joined AHRQ in 2000 as the Director of Planning, Evaluation, and Program
Development where she is actively involved in developing and guiding AHRQ’s strategic planning processes and
program development and evaluation activities. She now serves as deputy director of AHRQ. Prior to joining
the AHRQ staff, she was a Senior Health Policy Analyst in the General Accounting Office (GAO) Health Care
Issue area. Ms. Kendrick has over 25 years experience in Health Care Administration, most recently as the Chief,
Mental Health Outpatient Programs at the VA Medical Center in Washington, DC.
Education: Ms. Kendrick received a BS in Nursing from Keuka College and a MS in Child and Adolescent Mental
Health from the University of Maryland. She is currently a PhD candidate in program evaluation at the
University of Maryland.
Background: Dr. Burstin, MD, MPH, has served as the Director of the Center for Primary Care, Prevention, and
Clinical Partnerships at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) since January 2000. Prior to
her appointment at AHRQ, Dr. Burstin was an Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School and Director of
Quality Measurement at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
Dr. Burstin is the author of over 60 articles and book chapters and is board certified in Internal Medicine. She
is a deputy editor of the Journal of General Internal Medicine. She is President of the American Medical Student
Association (AMSA) Foundation Board of Directors and a member of the Board of Directors of La Clinica del
Pueblo, a free Latino clinic in Washington, DC, where she is a volunteer staff physician.
Education: Dr. Burstin is a graduate of the State University of New York at Upstate College of Medicine and the
Harvard School of Public Health. Dr. Burstin completed a residency in primary care internal medicine at Boston
City Hospital. After residency, she completed AHRQ-funded fellowship training in General Internal Medicine
and Health Services Research at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School.
Research Interests: Dr. Burstin’s research focuses on primary care topics such as patient-provider
communication; disparities in access and quality for vulnerable populations; and safety and quality of
ambulatory care.
Background: David Lanier, MD, is the Associate Director of the Center for Primary Care, Prevention, and
Clinical Partnerships (CP3). In addition to assisting the Director in planning, developing, and managing all
Center activities, Dr. Lanier heads CP3’s extramural research program and also directs the Center’s initiative
supporting primary care practice-based research networks (PBRNs).
Prior to joining AHRQ (then named the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research) in 1993, Dr. Lanier was
on the family practice faculty of the University of California at Irvine and then was named residency director and
chief of the division of family medicine at Georgetown University. From 1993 to 1995, he worked in the Agency’s
Forum for Quality and Effectiveness in Health Care before joining the staff of the Center for Primary Care
Research. In 1996, he led a special research initiative on referrals from primary to specialty care. From September
1998 to January 2000, he served as the Center’s Acting Director, and since 2003 has served as Associate Director
of the Center for Primary Care, Prevention, and Clinical Partnerships (CP3).
Dr. Lanier directs the Agency’s initiative on primary care practice-based research networks (PBRNs), which
has provided funding for over 45 networks across the country, and also serves as the director of extramural
research for CP3. He has completed research and published articles on numerous subjects, including low back
pain, the ecology of medical care, and physician accountability. Dr. Lanier provides medical care to HIV-infected
patients one half-day per week as a volunteer physician at the Whitman-Walker Clinic.
Education: A graduate of the medical school of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Dr. Lanier
completed residency training in family medicine in the University of Rochester (NY)/Highland Hospital
program and later completed fellowship training in academic family medicine at Baylor University.
Research interests: Dr. Lanier has been working actively with leaders of AHRQ-funded primary care practice-
based research networks to analyze data descriptive of the practice of primary care across the United States. The
PRImary care Network Survey (PRINS) is a NAMCS-like database including demographic information for
almost 1,000 primary care providers/practices as well as data describing over 20,000 patient encounters.
Background: Tess Miller began her career at a New York City advertising agency as a Media Specialist. However,
her interest eventually turned to social marketing and public health. She has over 10 years experience managing
public health projects including the Hospital-Based Rural Health Care Program, Pathways to Adulthood: A Three
Generation Urban Study, and the National Evaluation of The Healthy Steps for Young Children Program.
Education: She attended the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, earning a doctoral
degree in Public Health and a Certificate in Health Communications.
Research interests: Adolescent reproductive health, child development, community-level interventions, and
behavior change.
Background: Ms. Slutsky has directed the Center for Outcomes and Evidence (COE), AHRQ, US Department
of Health and Human Services since June 2003. Prior to Ms. Slutsky’s appointment as director of COE, she served
as acting director of the Center for Practice and Technology Assessment at AHRQ. She oversees the Evidence-
based Practice Center program; Technology Assessment Program; extramural and intramural research portfolios
concerning translating research into practice, outcomes and effectiveness research, including pharmaceutical
outcomes, and cost-effectiveness analyses; and the National Guideline, Quality Measures and Quality Tools
Clearinghouses.
Prior to becoming acting director of the Center for Practice and Technology Assessment, Ms. Slutsky directed
the development of the National Guideline Clearinghouse (NGC) Project. The NGC is an Internet-based
repository (www.guideline.gov) for comparative information on evidence-based clinical practice guidelines. In
addition, Ms. Slutsky served as project director of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, an internationally
recognized panel of experts who make evidence-based recommendations on clinical preventive services. In
addition, she is a member of the executive board of the Guidelines International Network and a Society for
Medical Decision Making Advisory Task Force Member.
Education: Ms. Slutsky received her BS at the University of Iowa, a MS in Public Health (Health Policy and
Administration) from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and trained as a Physician Assistant at the
University of Southern California.
Research interests: Ms. Slutsky is particularly interested in the translation of complex scientific information for
health care decision-makers. Most recently, she has been implementing a comparative effectiveness research
program that includes evidence synthesis, evidence generation and evidence communication.
Background: Lynn A. Bosco, MD, MPH, is Director, Pharmaceutical Studies, and Program Officer for the
Centers for Education and Research on Therapeutics (CERTs). Dr. Bosco represents AHRQ to the U.S.
Pharmacopeia (USP). She holds an academic appointment at the University of Maryland School of Medicine
(Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Epidemiology and Prevention). Before working at AHRQ, Dr.
Bosco was a Section Chief, Epidemiology Branch, in the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, Food and
Drug Administration (FDA). While in that position, she headed a group responsible for research, of adverse drug
reaction and drug utilization information. Dr. Bosco has been a commissioned officer in the U.S. Public Health
Service since 1984 and holds the rank of Captain. She represents AHRQ on the Physicians’ Professional Advisor
Committee (PPAC) which advises the Surgeon General on issues related to government physicians. She is an
active member of the Commissioned Corps Readiness Force (CCRF).
Education: Dr. Bosco received a BA in psychology from the University of Illinois and an MD from Rush Medical
College, in Chicago. She interned at the Los Angeles County Hospital and completed a residency in preventive
medicine within the Department of Epidemiology, at the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health,
where she also received an MPH Dr. Bosco is Board Certified in Preventive Medicine and in Clinical
Pharmacology.
Research interests: Her research interests are focused in the area of pharmacoepidemiology, and have resulted in
peer-reviewed publications using both Medicaid and drug marketing data.
100 National Pharmaceutical Council The Current Evidence - Based Medicine Landscape
Wishwa N. Kapoor, MD, MPH (2010)
Dr. Kapoor is an expert in health services research, most recently examining the outcomes and evaluation of
syncope, and outcomes, cost, and quality of pneumonia. As the Director of the Center for Research on Health
Care, he has developed the Clinical Research Training Program and teaches research methodology courses in the
program. Dr. Kapoor has extensive experience in mentoring fellows and junior faculty. He is a member of the
American Society for Clinical Investigation, an American Academy of Pediatrics, Past President of Society of
General Internal Medicine (SGIM) and recipient for the Robert J. Glaser award for Exceptional Achievement in
Teaching and Research. Dr. Kapoor has been a member of the grant review committee for the National Heart
Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) and has testified before Congress on Residency Programs. He has published
hundreds of research papers in peer reviewed professional and scientific publications and is on the editorial
boards of the Journal of Medicine and the Journal of International Medicine. Dr. Kapoor received his BS in
Chemical Engineering, and his MD at Washington University, St. Louis, and his MPH in Epidemiology at the
University of Pittsburgh.
The Current Evidence - Based Medicine Landscape National Pharmaceutical Council 101
Thomas P. Miller, JD (2009)
Mr. Miller is a senior policy professional with 30 years experience in economic and regulatory policy,
communication and legal issues in health policy, among other expertise. He has participated in health care
forums including consumer driven health care, insurance deductibles and Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), the
uninsured and long term care. He directed health policy studies at the CATO Institute and has been a journalist
in both broadcast and print media. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from New York University and received his JD
degree from Duke Law School.
102 National Pharmaceutical Council The Current Evidence - Based Medicine Landscape
James J. Rohack, MD, FACC, FACP (2008)
Dr. Rohack is a senior staff cardiologist with the Scott & White Clinic and Professor of Medicine at Texas A&M
Health Science Center (TAMRHSC) College of Medicine. He serves as Medical Director for System Improvement
for the Scott & White Health Plan, a nonprofit community based health plan with a national recognition for
quality medical care delivery as well as the Director for the Center for Healthcare Policy at Scott and White. He
is chair of the American Medical Association Board of Trustees as well as being Secretary of the Board of
Commissioners of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations.
Dr. Rohack has had a long involvement with medical education and accreditation standards. He service
includes the Council on Medical Education of both the Texas Medical Association and American Medical
Association; the National Board of Medical Examiners; the Accreditation Council on Continuing Medical
Education; the Liaison Committee on Specialty Boards and the Liaison Committee on Medical Education which
accredits programs leading to the MD degree in the U.S. and Canada. He is a nationally recognized speaker on
medical education and the financing and delivery of health care. He has served on External Advisory committees
for the George Bush School of Public Policy and the MD Anderson Cancer Center, and currently serves on the
TAMUHSC School of Rural Public Health. He is the recipient of numerous awards and recognition including
Who’s Who in Medicine and Health Care, America and the World, and the Golden Nugget Distinguished
Alumnus Award from the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Texas El Paso (UTEP).
Dr. Rohack attended the UTEP as a Stevens Scholar and graduated with highest honors. He obtained his
medical degree (M.D) with honors from the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB). He continued his
training at UTMB with a residency in Internal Medicine, an additional year as Chief Resident, and a clinical
fellowship in Cardiology.
The Current Evidence - Based Medicine Landscape National Pharmaceutical Council 103
Myrl Weinberg, CAE (2010)
Ms. Weinberg is president of the National Health Council, an umbrella organization whose members are 50 of
the leading voluntary health agencies committed to quality health care, and representing over 100 million
individuals with chronic disease and /or disabilities. For over 30 years Ms. Weinberg’s career has focused on
health, medical research, and long-term care and she has held managerial and leadership positions in many
different health care organizations including, the American Diabetes Association and the Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr.
Foundation. She was selected to serve on the congressionally mandated Institute of Medicine (IOM) Committee
to assess how research priorities are established at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and has served on
numerous boards. Ms. Weinberg pursued advanced graduate study at Purdue University, holds an MA in Special
Education from Georgia Peabody College, Nashville, Tennessee, and holds a BA in Psychology from the
University of Arkansas.
104 National Pharmaceutical Council The Current Evidence - Based Medicine Landscape
APPENDIX C:
U.S. Preventive Services Task Force Bios
Allen J. Dietrich, MD
Dr. Dietrich, a board-certified family physician, is a professor of community and family medicine at Dartmouth
Medical School and a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. He is also
associate director for population sciences at the Norris Cotton Cancer Center at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical
Center and serves as chair of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Initiative on Depression and
Primary Care.
Thomas G. DeWitt, MD
Thomas G. DeWitt, MD is the Carl Weihl Professor of Pediatrics, Director of the Division of General and
Community Pediatrics, and Associate Chair for Primary Care, in the Department of Pediatrics, at the Children’s
Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio. Since the mid-1980s, he has served as the Project Director for the
Bureau of Health Professions (BHPr) grants in General Pediatrics Residency Training and Faculty Development,
both at Children’s Hospital Medical Center Cincinnati and at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center.
For 10 years, Dr. DeWitt served on the Board of Directors of the Ambulatory Pediatric Association (APA), serving
as president from 1993–1994. He was instrumental in the APA’s role in developing BHPr supported educational
guidelines in general pediatrics for both medical students and residents. In 1996, Dr. DeWitt also served as Chair
of the Planning Committee for the first national conference on faculty development, jointly sponsored by the
BHPr and the American Association of Medical Colleges. He has published and presented extensively on the
subject of community-based education and faculty development for community preceptors.
The Current Evidence - Based Medicine Landscape National Pharmaceutical Council 105
Kimberly D. Gregory, MD, MPH
Dr. Gregory is Director of Maternal-Fetal Medicine and Director of Women’s Health Services Research at Cedars-
Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA. She is an Associate Professor at the David Geffen School of Medicine at
UCLA, Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology and at the UCLA School of Public Health Department of
Community Health Sciences. She is President of the Perinatal Advisory Council, Los Angeles Communities and
has served on numerous advisory boards, including the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development
— California Health Policy and Data Advisory Commission on Lowering Cesarean Sections; the Department
Health Services Maternal & Child Health Branch; Department of Health Services Office of Women’s Health; the
California Perinatal Quality Care Collaborative; and the March of Dimes. Dr. Gregory is a member of many
professional organizations, including the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology where she is currently
on the OB Practice Committee and ACOG District IX Legislative Committee.
David Grossman, MD
Dr. Grossman, a board-certified pediatrician recognized for his research on injury prevention and Native
American health, is medical director of preventive care at Group Health Cooperative in Seattle. He is also a senior
investigator at the Group Health Center for Health Studies and a professor of health services and adjunct
professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington. He serves on the Secretary’s Advisory Committee on
Injury Prevention and Control for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2007, the American
Academy of Pediatrics awarded Dr. Grossman the Native American Child Health Advocacy Award.
George J. Isham, MD
Dr. Isham is Medical Director and Chief Health Officer for HealthPartners, a large health care organization in
Minnesota, representing nearly 800,000 members. Dr. Isham is responsible for quality, utilization management,
health promotion and disease management, research, and health professionals’ education at HealthPartners. He
is active in strategic planning and policy issues. He is an experienced primary care clinician and was chair of the
Institute of Medicine committee that produced the report, Priority Areas for National Action: Transforming Health
Care Quality.
106 National Pharmaceutical Council The Current Evidence - Based Medicine Landscape
Lucy N. Marion, PhD, RN
Dr. Marion is the new Dean and Professor at the Medical College of Georgia School of Nursing in Augusta,
Georgia, after several years as Associate Dean for Academic Nursing Practice at the University of Illinois at
Chicago College of Nursing. As a researcher, clinician (family nurse practitioner), published author, and
international consultant, Dr. Marion has received numerous honors and awards. She has served on state and
national advisory groups concerning mental health care, environmental risks to children, the genetics workforce,
and the practice doctorate for nurses, and belongs to several professional organizations. Her NIH-funded
translational research focuses on sexual risk reduction interventions for high risk minority populations. In
Chicago, she developed a nurse-managed system in partnership with Thresholds Psychosocial Rehabilitation
Agency for the delivery of integrated primary and mental health care for people with severe and persistent mental
illness.
The Current Evidence - Based Medicine Landscape National Pharmaceutical Council 107
George F. Sawaya, MD
Dr. Sawaya is an Associate Professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences and
the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Dr.
Sawaya has received many honors and awards; is an active researcher and lecturer; is a published author; and
currently serves on two Expert Panels for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention focusing on detection
of ovarian, breast, and cervical cancers. He developed and teaches the required curriculum in evidence-based
medicine and clinical decision making at UCSF. Dr. Sawaya serves as a peer reviewer for several journals,
including the New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of the American Medical Association, Annals of Internal
Medicine, and Obstetrics and Gynecology.
108 National Pharmaceutical Council The Current Evidence - Based Medicine Landscape
APPENDIX D:
Evidence – Based Practice Centers Bios
The Current Evidence - Based Medicine Landscape National Pharmaceutical Council 109
Duke University
David B. Matchar, MD
Director and Professor of Medicine
Duke Center for Clinical Health Policy Research
2200 W. Main Street, Suite 220 Tower
Durham, NC 27705
E-mail: match001@mc.duke.edu
Dr. Matchar’s research relates to clinical practice improvement — from the development of clinical policies to
their implementation in real world clinical settings, and most recently, cerebrovascular disease, disabling
neurological conditions, cardiovascular disease, and cancer prevention.
Dr. Matchar served as principal investigator for the Stroke Prevention Patient Outcome Research Team
(PORT). Funded by the AHCPR, the PORT involved 35 investigators at 13 institutions. The Stroke PORT has
been highly productive and has led to a stroke prevention project funded as a public/private partnership by the
AHCPR and DuPont Pharma, the Managing Anticoagulation Services Trial (MAST). MAST is a practice
improvement trial in 6 managed care organizations, focusing on optimizing anticoagulation for individuals with
atrial fibrillation.
Dr. Matchar also serves as consultant in the general area of analytic strategies for clinical policy development,
as well as for specific projects related to stroke (e.g., acute stroke treatment, management of atrial fibrillation, and
use of carotid endarterectomy.) Dr. Matchar has worked with AHCPR (now AHRQ), ACP, AHA, AAN, Robert
Wood Johnson Foundation, NSA, WHO, and several pharmaceutical companies.
Research interests: clinical policy development and implementation, evidence synthesis, disease modeling, health
economics, practice improvement trials.
110 National Pharmaceutical Council The Current Evidence - Based Medicine Landscape
John W. Williams Jr., MD
Professor of Medicine & Psychiatry
Scientific Editor, NC Medical Journal
Duke University and Durham VA Medical Center
2424 Erwin Road
Suite 1105, Hock Plaza
Durham, NC 27705
Phone: (919) 668-0300
Fax: (919) 668-1300
E-mail: jw.williams@duke.edu
Dr. William’s is a Professor in the Department of Medicine and an Associate Professor in the Department of
Psychiatry at Duke University. His research interests include implementing best practices, mental illness in
primary care with a focus on depression and dementia, quality indicators, systematic reviews, and effectiveness
trials.
ECRI
Karen Schoelles, MD, SM
Director, ECRI Evidence-based Practice Center
ECRI
5200 Butler Pike
Plymouth Meeting, PA 19462
Phone: (610) 825-6000, ext. 5337
Fax: (610) 834-1275
E-mail: kschoelles@ecri.org
The Current Evidence - Based Medicine Landscape National Pharmaceutical Council 111
and Quality (AHRQ). She also is responsible for ECRI’s technology assessment contract with TRICARE
Management Activity, the Department of Defense agency that administers the health benefits for the U.S. Armed
Services personnel and their families, reservists, and retirees.
Ms. Coates has developed a number of health care and health technology-related information resources,
including ECRI’s Healthcare Standards print directory database, and TARGET, a searchable Web-deployed
database of evidence reports on emerging medical technologies. Ms. Coates is project director for ECRI’s contract
with AHRQ to develop, implement, and maintain the National Guideline Clearinghouse™, an Internet-accessible
database of summaries of clinical practice guidelines and related documents. She also directs ECRI’s contract
with AHRQ to develop, implement, and maintain the National Quality Measures Clearinghouse™, a database of
health care quality measures and supporting documentation.
Ms. Coates is responsible for the continuous development and promulgation of ECRI’s Universal Medical
Device Nomenclature System™ (UMDNS™), a controlled vocabulary and coding system for classifying medical
products and indexing clinical, regulatory, and technical information. It has been adopted by many nations and
by the European Union as the interim standard for medical devices in support of the Medical Devices Directives.
Ms. Coates was a member of the Project Council for the European Union project to develop the Global Medical
Device Nomenclature.
Since 1991, she has directed ECRI’s work with the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to index unique
health services research literature for NLM’s bibliographic databases and to incorporate UMDNS into NLM’s
Unified Medical Language System. She represents ECRI on several international medical informatics standards
committees, such as ISO TC 210 and CEN TC 257, and has been a member of the Global Harmonization Task
Force Study Group 2 on Vigilance and Postmarket Surveillance.
112 National Pharmaceutical Council The Current Evidence - Based Medicine Landscape
Jonathan M. Samet, MD, MS
Co-Chair of Scientific Advisory Committee
Phone: (410) 955-3286
Email: jsamet@jhsph.edu
Dr. Jonathan Samet is one of the world’s leading scientific experts on the health effects of active and passive
smoking. He has been contributed to many of the Surgeon General’s reports in the US and is the senior scientific
editor for the 2004 and 2006 reports on active and passive smoking respectively. He was also responsible for the
first surveillance efforts to track the tobacco epidemic in China.
The Current Evidence - Based Medicine Landscape National Pharmaceutical Council 113
Steven N. Goodman, MD, MHS, PhD
Co-Director, EPC
Depart of Oncology
Division of Biostatistics
John Hopkins School of Medicine
1103 550 Building
Phone: (410) 955-4596
Fax: (410) 614-2325
Email: sgoodman@welchlink.welch.jhu.edu
Steven N. Goodman, MD, MHS, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Oncology in the Division of Biostatistics of the
Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, with appointments in the Departments of Pediatrics, Biostatistics and
Epidemiology in the Johns Hopkins Schools of Medicine and Public Health. Dr. Goodman received a BA from
Harvard, MD from NYU, trained in Pediatrics at Washington University in St. Louis, and received an MHS. in
Biostatistics and PhD in Epidemiology from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. In the Oncology Center he
directs the Biostatistics cores of the SPORE grants in GI and Head and Neck Cancer and consults on numerous
clinical research projects. As part of the Head and Neck SPORE, he is overseeing the production of HAND (Head
And Neck Database), which will integrate clinical, pathologic, molecular, genetic and epidemiologic information
on all patients with these types of cancer seen at Johns Hopkins. This is being designed to conform to cross-
institutional standards developed within the EDRN - Early Detection Research Network.
In addition to his activities in oncology, Dr. Goodman is an active leader and teacher in a variety of
departments and programs within the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions. He is co-director of the PhD program
in the Department of Epidemiology and of the Johns Hopkins Evidence-Based Practice Center, and is on the core
faculties of the Johns Hopkins Bioethics Institute, the Center for Clinical Trials, and the Graduate Training
Program in Clinical Investigation (GTPCI). He directs Project ImpACT (Important Achievements of Clinical
Trials), a project to identify, compile and profile the 100 most important clinical trials ever performed, across all
disciplines of medicine and public health. He runs a yearlong doctoral seminar for all epidemiology PhD
students, teaches a course on Meta-analysis in the Epidemiology department, and is a director of the 2 week
Methods in Clinical Research course taught every summer under the auspices of the GCRC (General Clinical
Research Center) and GTPCI. He is a regular lecturer in several courses on research ethics and research methods
given throughout the year. He chairs the Department of Epidemiology curriculum committee and serves as a
statistician for the pediatric clinical research unit of the GCRC.
Dr. Goodman is very active outside of Johns Hopkins in a variety of editorial and advisory capacities. He is
the Editor-in-chief of Clinical Trials: Journal of the Society for Clinical Trials, and has been Statistical Editor of
the Annals of Internal Medicine since 1987. He has served on a wide variety of national panels, including the
Institute of Medicine’s Committee on Veterans and Agent Orange, Committee on Immunization Safety, the
Medicare Coverage Advisory Commission, and the Surgeon General’s committees to write the 2001 and 2002
reports on Smoking and Health. He served as a consultant to the President’s Advisory Commission on Human
Radiation Experiments. He chairs a national panel on the health outcomes of children born using assisted
reproductive technologies, sponsored by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Society for
Reproductive Medicine. He represents the American Academy of Pediatrics on the Medical Advisory Panel of the
114 National Pharmaceutical Council The Current Evidence - Based Medicine Landscape
National Blue Cross/Blue Shield Technology Evaluation program, and was recently appointed to succeed Dr.
David Eddy as scientific advisor to the group. He is on the Board of Directors of the Society for Clinical Trials
and was co-director of the Baltimore Cochrane Center from 1994-1998. He writes and teaches extensively on
evidence synthesis, and inferential, methodological and ethical issues in epidemiology and clinical trials.
Education: PhD, Johns Hopkins University; MD, New York University; MHS, Johns Hopkins University
American Academy of Pediatrics Appointee to the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association Medical Advisory
Panel
Member of several IOM panels (Agent Orange, Immunization Safety) and committees for Surgeon General’s
reports (2001, 2002)
Member of Medicare Coverage Advisory Committee (MCAC)
Research and teaching focus on inferential and ethical issues in clinical research, peer review, meta-analysis
Board-certified by the American Board of Pediatrics
Co-Scientific Advisor to the Association’s Medical Advisory Panel
McMaster University
The Current Evidence - Based Medicine Landscape National Pharmaceutical Council 115
In 1997, Dr. Raina took a faculty position at UBC and CCCHR. During his stay (1997-2001) in Vancouver, he
developed a research agenda in population health and injuries and directed BC Injury Research and Prevention
Unit. He continues to hold the position of Director of BC Injury Research and Prevention Unit. His focus on
injury research is to initiate the implementation of an emergency room surveillance system in British Columbia,
as well as examining the determinants of injuries in children and youth and older populations. In 1999, he was
also awarded a 5-year CIHR/NHRDP Investigator Award in the area of population health and injuries, and in
2003 he has been awarded a CIHR Investigator Award in the area of Healthy Aging.
Since moving to Hamilton in 2001, he has continued to work in the area of geriatric epidemiology, injuries
and methods related to M-A, systematic reviews, and knowledge transfer. He is also co-leading the development
of the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging. The overall aim of the CLSA is to examine aging as a dynamic
process. This study will investigate the inter-relationship among intrinsic and extrinsic factors from mid life to
older age, capturing transitions and trajectories that will allow us to clarify the concept of healthy aging. Once in
place, the CLSA will provide infrastructure and build capacity for the ongoing conduct of high quality research
on aging in Canada.
116 National Pharmaceutical Council The Current Evidence - Based Medicine Landscape
Evelyn P. Whitlock, MD, MPH
Oregon Evidence-based Practice Center, Co-Director & Liaison to Kaiser Permanente
Senior Investigator and Director for Research-Health Care Integration, KPCHR
Clinical Associate Professor of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, OHSU
Oregon Health & Science University
Oregon Evidence-based Practice Center
3181 SW Sam Jackson Park Road
Mail code: BICC
Portland, Oregon 97239-3098
Phone: (503) 418-5409
Fax: (503) 418-3332
E-mail: Evelyn.Whitlock@kpchr.org
Dr. Whitlock is a Senior Investigator at Center for Health Research, a board-certified preventive medicine
physician, and the Director of Research-Healthcare Integration. As Director of Research-Healthcare Integration,
she oversees translational research collaborations between CHR and Kaiser Permanente Northwest, particularly
those focused on evidence-based medicine. Dr. Whitlock is also an active member of CHR’s Leadership Team.
Dr. Whitlock is Associate Director of the Oregon Evidence-based Practice Center (EPC), a multi-institute
collaboration between CHR, Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), and the Portland Veterans Affairs
Medical Center. The Oregon EPC is under a multi-year contract to the Agency for Healthcare Research and
Quality (AHRQ) to produce evidence syntheses based on systematic reviews, lead methodological development
for systematic reviews, and support the increased application of systematic reviews and other evidence-based
products into policy and practice. Dr. Whitlock serves as the Principal Investigator for the United States
Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), an EPC program that systematically reviews the evidence for a given
preventive service, so the USPSTF can develop recommendations for clinical preventive services.
She is also co-Principal Investigator of AHRQ’s Scientific Resource Center for its Effective Healthcare
Program and leads the Topic Nomination group, which generates topics for systematic evaluation. Dr. Whitlock
is a member of the senior faculty of the Oregon Clinical and Translational Research Institute (OCTRI), one of 12
NIH-funded awards for Clinical and Translational Sciences, and has helped develop and direct OCTRI’s
Translation of Research into Policy and Practice Program. She serves as the Portland Clinical Site Medical
Director, medical adjudicator, and co-investigator for the Women’s Health Initiative. Dr. Whitlock has significant
experience conducting epidemiological studies and health-services research using large observational datasets,
survey data, and administrative datasets. Other recent research includes collaboration with the CDC that created
and validated an algorithm to determine pregnancy episodes and their outcomes within Kaiser Permanente
Northwest, with ongoing work investigating important public health issues during pregnancy.
In addition to her appointment at CHR, Dr. Whitlock is an adjunct associate professor in OHSU’s
Department of Medical Informatics and Clinical Epidemiology. She also serves as a clinical associate professor in
the Department of Health and Preventive Medicine at OHSU, where she directed the Residency Program from
1993-1997.
The Current Evidence - Based Medicine Landscape National Pharmaceutical Council 117
Roger Chou, MD
Scientific Director, Oregon Evidence-based Practice Center
Internal Medicine & Geriatrics
Sam Jackson Hall, 3rd Floor
3181 S.W. Sam Jackson Park Road
Portland, OR 97239
Phone: (503) 494-8562
Dr. Chou received his medical degree from Northwestern University Medical School and completed an internal
medicine residency at OHSU. He is board certified in internal medicine. Chou’s research interests include
development of evidence-based guidelines for health screening and management of pain conditions. He has led
research for the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, the Drug Effectiveness Review Project, the American Pain
Society and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s Comparative Effectiveness Program. In his free
time, he enjoys rock climbing, mountaineering, hiking and photography.
Professional Education:
Degree(s): MD Northwestern University, Chicago, 1995
Residency: Oregon Health & Science University, Portland
Fellowships: General Internal Medicine-Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Portland
118 National Pharmaceutical Council The Current Evidence - Based Medicine Landscape
Meera Viswanathan, PhD
Director, RTI-UNC Evidence-based Practice Center
RTI International
3040 Cornwallis Road
P.O. Box 12194
Research Triangle Park, NC 27709-2194
Phone: (919) 316-3930
Fax: (919) 541-7384
E-mail: viswanathan@rti.org
Southern California
Paul Shekelle, MD, PhD
Director, Southern California EPC-RAND
1700 Main Street
Santa Monica, CA 90401
Phone: (310) 393-0411, ext. 6669
Fax: (310) 451-6917
E-mail: paul_shekelle@rand.org
Expertise: Complementary and alternative medicine, quality of care
Education: MD, Duke University; PhD, University of California, Los Angeles
Background: Currently an Associate Professor of Medicine at the UCLA School of Medicine, and a staff physician
at the VA Medical Center in West Los Angeles. Research focus has been in the application of innovative methods
to the assessment and improvement of the quality of care. Co-directs the Assessing Care of the Vulnerable Elderly
project, which seeks to develop a comprehensive set of quality tools to assess care for this population. As an
Atlantic Fellow in Public Policy, studied how quality of care was being assessed in the National Health Service in
the United Kingdom.
The Current Evidence - Based Medicine Landscape National Pharmaceutical Council 119
Tufts University – New England Medical Center
Joseph Lau, MD
Director, Principal Investigator
Center for Clinical Evidence Synthesis
Division of Clinical Care Research
Tufts-New England Medical Center
750 Washington Street, Box 63
Boston, MA 02111
Phone: (617) 636-7670
Fax: (617) 636-8628
E-mail: jlau1@tufts-nemc.org
Dr. Lau is Professor of Medicine at the Division of Clinical Care Research at the Tufts-New England Medical
Center. He is the Director of one of AHRQ Evidence-based Practice Centers (EPC) and the Director of the New
England Cochrane Center (Boston Office). He also heads an AHRQ funded program to train “Evidence-Based
Practitioners.” He has published extensively on the methodologies and clinical applications of meta-analysis. He
has given many lectures and short courses on meta-analysis nationally and internationally. He is a member of the
editorial board of Clinical Evidence. His earlier work in cumulative meta-analysis of acute myocardial infarction
treatment trials has won the distinction of being included in a proposed 27-articles core-canon of the western
medical literature by the editor of the Lancet in 1997.
University of Alberta
Terry P. Klassen, MD, MSc, FRCPC
Director, ARCHE/EPC
Professor and Chair, Department of Pediatrics
Phone: (780) 407-7084
Fax: (780) 407-8538
E-mail: terry.klassen@ualberta.ca
Dr. Terry Klassen founded the Alberta Research Center for Child Health Evidence (ARCHE) out of an eagerness
to generate evidence and expand the knowledge base for decisions in child health. Dr. Klassen’s interest in
evidence-based practice developed while working in the pediatric emergency department at the Children’s
Hospital of Eastern Ontario and trying to determine what was the best management for the acutely ill and
injured children he was assessing. This led him to actively research emerging issues through randomized trials
and systematic reviews. Dr. Klassen’s two major research interests have been in the areas of acute respiratory
disease and injury prevention and control.
Recognizing the limitations of single centre research, he was the founding member of Pediatric Emergency
Research of Canada (PERC). This organization, which involves all the pediatric emergency departments across
Canada, aims to foster collaborative research addressing the major health issues in pediatric emergency medicine.
It also has a major emphasis on mentoring young investigators in this field. This vibrant research group has major
funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and has published in the major medical
journals, including British Medical Journal (BMJ), the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), and
the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).
120 National Pharmaceutical Council The Current Evidence - Based Medicine Landscape
In keeping with his enthusiasm for evidence-based practice, Dr. Klassen led the Child Health Field of the
Cochrane Collaboration into existence in 1999. The Cochrane Collaboration is an international organization
that aims to synthesize all the available evidence in health. The mandate of the Child Health Field is to ensure
that the child health area is addressed in a comprehensive and relevant way within the collaboration.
As part of a collaborative effort, involving key researchers from the University of Alberta and Capital Health,
he is currently the Director of the University of Alberta Evidence-based Practice Center (U of A EPC). This center
has been involved with evidence reports regarding Biventricular Pacing for Congestive Heart Failure, Melatonin
for Sleep Disorders, and Occupational Asthma.
Since 1999, Dr. Klassen has been the Professor and Chair of the Department of Pediatrics at the University of
Alberta and Clinical Leader for the Child Health Program of Capital Health, which is home for the Stollery
Children’s Hospital. In 2003, in recognition for his lifetime achievement in research in pediatrics, he was awarded
the Research Award from the Ambulatory Pediatric Association.
The Current Evidence - Based Medicine Landscape National Pharmaceutical Council 121
acute awareness of the need for quality research to justify and support health care activities. Lisa is interested in
research at all levels from designing studies and implementing research protocols to analyzing and interpreting
results and making these available in a form that is meaningful to the intended audience. Her specific research
interests include injury epidemiology, methodological issues, surveillance and child health.
University of Connecticut
C. Michael White, PharmD
Associate Professor of Pharmacy Practice
University of Connecticut
School of Pharmacy, Room 342
69 North Eagleville Road, Unit 3092
Storrs, Connecticut 06269-3092
Phone: (860) 486-4697
Fax: (860) 545-2415
E-mail: cmwhite@harthosp.org
C. Michael White earned his BS and PharmD at the Albany College of Pharmacy in Albany, NY, and served a
fellowship at the UConn School of Pharmacy/Hartford Hospital in 1998. His professional interests include
arrhythmia detection, prevention, and treatment; the impact of drugs, herbs, and natural products on
implantable cardiac devices and electrophysiology; and pleiotrophic effects of antihyperlipidemic agents.
122 National Pharmaceutical Council The Current Evidence - Based Medicine Landscape
Craig Coleman, PharmD
Assistant Professor of Pharmacy Practice
University of Connecticut
School of Pharmacy, Room 346
69 North Eagleville Road, Unit 3092
Storrs, Connecticut 06269-3092
Phone: (860)545-2096
Fax: (860)486-1553
E-mail: ccolema@harthosp.org
Craig Coleman earned a BS in Biology from Clark University, and a BS in Pharmacy Studies along with his
PharmD from the University of Connecticut. His professional interests include: assessment of the clinical and
pharmacoeconomic outcomes of cardiovascular drugs including drugs used in the diagnosis and evaluation of
coronary artery disease and to prevent atrial fibrillation after cardiothoracic surgery; evaluation and modeling of
the cardiovascular effects of non-cardiovascular drugs; pharmacoeconomic evaluations of programs, devices,
and interventions designed to increase the appropriate and safe use of medications; and teaching outcomes
assessment and internal medicine pharmacotherapy to students, residents, and research fellows.
University of Ottawa
David Moher, PhD
Director, UO-EPC
Chalmers Research Group
Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute
401 Smyth Road
Ottawa, Ontario
Canada K1H 8L1
Phone: (613) 738-3591
Fax: (613) 738-4800
E-mail: dmoher@uottawa.ca
The CRG team is led by David Moher, Director of Clinical Research at CHEO. Dr. Moher founded the Thomas
C. Chalmers Centre for Systematic Reviews in January 1998 and he has established an international reputation
regarding the methodology of systematic reviews and meta-analysis. His leadership led to the development of the
CONSORT standard for reporting randomized controlled trials, adopted by approximately 500 health care
journals internationally. David Moher has spearheaded over 30 systematic reviews, receiving national and
international funding. He has over 100 scientific papers in respected health care journals such as The Lancet and
JAMA. He is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Medicine, and Epidemiology and Community Medicine, at the
University of Ottawa. David Moher is on the editorial board of several medical journals.
The Current Evidence - Based Medicine Landscape National Pharmaceutical Council 123
Chantelle Garritty
UO-EPC Coordinator, CRG Systematic Reviews Manager
Chalmers Research Group
Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute
401 Smyth Road
Ottawa, Ontario
Canada K1H 8L1
Phone: (613) 737-7600, ext. 4117
Fax: (613) 738-4800
E-mail: cgarritty@cheo.on.ca
University of Minnesota
Robert L. Kane, MD
Principal Investigator
Minnesota Chair in Long-Term Care and Aging
University of Minnesota School of Public Health
Mayo Mail Code 197
Minneapolis, MN 55455
Phone: (612) 624-1185
Fax: (612) 624-8448
E-mail: kanex001@umn.edu
Robert Kane, MD, Co-Director, is a physician with a background in preventive medicine, health services research,
and geriatrics, is a professor in the Division of Health Services Research and Policy and holds an endowed chair
in Long-term Care and Aging. Dr. Kane combines experience in aging and long-term care with expertise in policy
analysis and outcomes measurement. He has directed numerous large-scale research and evaluation projects in
a variety of fields related to health services research and directs the University’s Center on Aging.
Most recently, his larger efforts have examined the outcomes of Medicare patients discharged from hospitals
to assess the role of both hospital care and post-hospital care. He directed a study to examine the quality of home
care and another to develop an information system to examine the outcomes of mental health care in managed
behavioral care. These projects demonstrate not only his background in outcomes research but also his ability to
design and direct large scale, multi-site, longitudinal research efforts.
With regard to managed care, he also developed a process to assess the quality of care for PACE, which offers
capitated care to high risk older persons and he directs the team that is providing the technical assistance to
establish the second generation of Social HMOs. As part of the second generation SHMO demonstration, Dr.
Kane has been instrumental in designing the geriatric intervention for the demonstration and developing
screeners and triggers to be used in care management of the elderly SHMO enrollees. Dr. Kane is well known for
his abilities to design and carry out large-scale projects and for his general expertise in long-term care financing
and delivery and in quality of care. He is the editor of Understanding Health Care Outcomes (Aspen, 1997).
124 National Pharmaceutical Council The Current Evidence - Based Medicine Landscape
Vanderbilt University
Katherine E. Hartmann, MD, PhD
Director, Vanderbilt University Evidence-based Practice Center
Deputy Director, Institute for Medicine and Public Health
Vanderbilt University
Sixth Floor, Suite 600
2525 West End Avenue
Nashville, TN 37203
Phone: (615)936-8320
Fax: 615-936-8290
E-mail: katherine.hartmann@vanderbilt.edu
Dr. Hartmann is the Director of the Vanderbilt University EPC. She is also the Deputy Director of the Institute
for Medicine and Public Health at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), where she serves as Director
of Women’s Health Research, and as the Lucius M. Burch Vice Chair of Research in Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Dr. Hartmann is a health care and reproductive epidemiologist. She received her medical training as well as her
a master’s degree in science writing from Johns Hopkins University. She completed her residency and doctoral
training in epidemiology at the University of North Carolina. She was the founding director of the Center for
Women’s Health Research at the University of North Carolina before joining the faculty of Vanderbilt University
in 2006.
The Current Evidence - Based Medicine Landscape National Pharmaceutical Council 125
APPENDIX E:
Effective Health Care Program’s
Stakeholder Group Bios
126 National Pharmaceutical Council The Current Evidence - Based Medicine Landscape
Wade M. Aubry, MD
Associate Director of the Center for Medical Technology Policy and Senior Medical Advisor
to the California Technology Assessment Forum
Dr. Aubry is Associate Director of the Center for Medical Technology Policy and Senior Medical Advisor to
the California Technology Assessment Forum. CMTP is a new nonprofit organization based in San Francisco
whose mission is to generate new evidence on important technologies to meet the needs of decision makers. He
has an extensive background in technology assessment and coverage decision making as former Senior Vice
President and Chief Medical Officer for Blue Shield of California and former Chairman of the Blue Cross Blue
Shield Association’s TEC Medical Advisory Panel. Dr. Aubry has also been a Medicare Part B Carrier Medical
Director for Northern California and has served two terms on the CMS Medicare Evidence Development and
Coverage Advisory Panel. He has been a member of numerous national advisory committees related to medical
technology, clinical research, and evidence-based medicine for the IOM, NIH, NCQA, ACRIN, and others. He
also has experience in health care consulting as a former Vice President for the Lewin Group.
Dr. Aubry received his B.S. degree from Stanford University and his MD degree from the UCLA School of
Medicine. Trained as an internist and endocrinologist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, he practices
medicine at Saint Francis Memorial Hospital in San Francisco, where he is Chairman of the hospital’s
Institutional Review Board. He is also Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine at the UCSF Institute for Health
Policy Studies, where he serves on the faculty task force for the California Health Benefits Review Program and
teaches in clinical medicine and health policy. He is co-author of “False Hope: Bone Marrow Transplantation for
Breast Cancer”, which details the rise and fall of a controversial procedure that continues to have an impact on
policies related to the dissemination of new medical technology.
The Current Evidence - Based Medicine Landscape National Pharmaceutical Council 127
W. Gary Erwin, PharmD
Senior Vice President, Professional Services, Omnicare, Inc., and President, Omnicare Senior Health Outcomes
Dr. Erwin’s responsibilities include development, management and measurement of clinical programs for
Omnicare Senior Pharmacy services; business development in the areas of clinical initiatives for retiree
populations; and performance of outcomes studies and database reporting.
Dr. Erwin received his B.S. Pharmacy degree from Auburn University in 1976 and his Doctor of Pharmacy
degree from the University of Kentucky in 1981. He also completed a hospital pharmacy residency at the
University of Kentucky Medical Center in 1981. Prior to joining Omnicare, Dr. Erwin served as Vice President
for Professional Programs, and Professor of Clinical Pharmacy, Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science.
In addition, he was on the faculty at the University of Georgia, where he specialized in geriatric pharmacotherapy
and long-term care.
Omnicare, Inc., a Fortune 500 company based in Covington, Kentucky, is a leading provider of
pharmaceutical care for the elderly. Omnicare serves residents in long-term care facilities and other chronic care
settings comprising approximately 1,419,000 beds in 47 states, the District of Columbia and Canada. Omnicare
is the largest U.S. provider of professional pharmacy, related consulting and data management services for skilled
nursing, assisted living and other institutional health care providers as well as for hospice patients in homecare
and other settings. Omnicare’s pharmacy services also include distribution and patient assistance services for
specialty pharmaceuticals. Omnicare offers clinical research services for the pharmaceutical and biotechnology
industries in 30 countries worldwide.
128 National Pharmaceutical Council The Current Evidence - Based Medicine Landscape
Maria Carolina Hinestrosa, MA, MPH
Executive Vice President for Programs and Planning at the National Breast Cancer Coalition, and
Co-founder of Nueva Vida
Carolina Hinestrosa is the Executive Vice President for Programs and Planning at the National Breast Cancer
Coalition, and co-founder of Nueva Vida, a support network for Latinas with cancer in the Washington
metropolitan area. A two-time breast cancer survivor, Ms. Hinestrosa is a member and former Chair of the
Integration Panel of the Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program. She has served on various
national committees at the National Cancer Institute, the Institute of Medicine, National Quality Forum, the
Ethical Force of the American Medical Association, among others. She is a sought-after speaker on breast cancer
advocacy in research, access and quality care. Born in Bogotá, Colombia, Ms. Hinestrosa came to the United
States in 1985 as a Fulbright scholar. She holds graduate degrees in economics and public health. She has broad
experience in strategic planning and nonprofit management in Colombia, New Zealand and the United States.
Dick Justman, MD
National Medical Director of UnitedHealthcare
Dick Justman is national medical director of UnitedHealthcare, a national health service delivery company.
He works in the Clinical Advancement division. Dick is accountable for medical technology assessment, clinical
support of pharmacy programs and clinical support of benefit administration. He has been with
UnitedHealthcare since 1993. Dick received his bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and his MD degree
from the State University of New York at Buffalo. He is board-certified in pediatrics, and received his
postgraduate training at The University of Chicago Hospitals and Clinics and the Johns Hopkins Hospital. Dick
practiced pediatrics in Minneapolis, Minnesota for fifteen years before joining UnitedHealthcare.
He has served on the Institute of Medicine Forum on Drug Discovery, Development and Translation; the
Institute of Medicine Committee to Identify Highly Effective Clinical Services; the American Medical Association
CPT-5 Project; the American Medical Association Initiative to Transform Medical Education (ITME); and an
The Current Evidence - Based Medicine Landscape National Pharmaceutical Council 129
expert panel developing an Evidence Report on diabetes education for children with type I diabetes,
commissioned by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
Sharon Levine, MD
Associate Executive Director, The Permanente Medical Group, Inc.
Sharon Levine, MD, is a nationally respected expert and frequent speaker on issues of health policy, drug use
management, and the design and delivery of health care services. As Associate Executive Director for The
Permanente Medical Group of Northern California since 1991- the largest medical group in the country – Dr.
Levine has responsibility for the recruitment, compensation, clinical education, management training and
leadership development for the group’s physicians; government and community relations, health policy and
external affairs; and pharmacy policy and drug use management
A board certified (American Board of Pediatrics) pediatrician, Dr Levine has practiced with The Permanente
Medical Group since 1977. During that time she has held multiple leadership roles within the Medical Group,
including Chief of Pediatrics, Chief of Quality, and Physician in Charge of the Fremont Medical Center.
Dr. Levine began her medical career at the Montgomery-Georgetown Pediatric Comprehensive Care Clinic,
and Georgetown University Community Health Plan. In addition, she has held academic appointments at Tufts
University School of Medicine and Georgetown University School of Medicine, and spent two years as a Clinical
Associate at the National Institutes of Health, Institute of Child Health and Human Development, doing research
on infant nutrition.
Dr. Levine is a member of the American College of Physician Executives, California Medical Association, and
American Medical Association. She serves on the Boards of Directors of the Integrated Healthcare Association,
The California Association of Physician Groups, The California Hospital Association, The Public Heath Institute
of California, and the Women’s Foundation of California.
A native of Boston, Dr. Levine received her undergraduate degree from Radcliffe College at Harvard
University, and her MD degree from Tufts University School of Medicine. Dr. Levine is married and lives in Palo
Alto, Ca.
Kaiser Permanente is America’s leading integrated health plan. Founded in 1945, it is a not-for-profit, group
practice prepayment program with headquarters in Oakland, California. Kaiser Permanente serves the health
care needs of over 8.2 million members in 9 states and the District of Columbia. Today it encompasses the not-
for-profit Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc., Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and their subsidiaries, and the for-
profit Permanente Medical Groups, as well as an affiliation with Group Health Cooperative based in Seattle.
Nationwide, Kaiser Permanente includes approximately 136,000 technical, administrative and clerical employees
and over 11,000 physicians representing all specialties.
David B. Lorber, MD
Vice President of Medical Affairs for Caremark
David Lorber, MD, is Vice President of Medical Affairs for Caremark. He has been with the Company since
2000. Dr. Lorber is responsible for clinical oversight of Caremark programs, focusing on clinical product
development and eBusiness initiatives. In addition, he provides clinical support to account management teams
and for Medicare Part D initiatives.
Prior to joining Caremark, Dr. Lorber was Medical Director at Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Mexico in
Albuquerque. His responsibilities included utilization management, disease management, provider profiling,
pharmacy and therapeutics committee, credentialing and liaison to the State Medical Society and New Mexico
130 National Pharmaceutical Council The Current Evidence - Based Medicine Landscape
Department of Health. In addition, he served as the medical director for the Indian Health Service Contract
Health Services, a national entity managed by Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Mexico.
Before that, Dr. Lorber was a private practitioner in pulmonary, critical care and internal medicine and held
numerous positions in community leadership and professional organizations including President of the New
Mexico Chapter of the American Thoracic Society. He has held faculty appointments as Assistant Clinical
Professor of Medicine with the University of New Mexico School of Medicine, and as Assistant Professor with the
University of Arizona Medical Center in Tucson and the Tucson VA Hospital.
In addition, Dr. Lorber serves on both the Pulmonology Expert Committee and the Therapeutic Decision
Making Expert Committee of United States Pharmacopeia.
He received a Bachelor of Arts with distinction in biology from the University of Virginia and earned a Doctor
of Medicine degree from the Virginia Commonwealth University, Medical College of Virginia. He is board
certified in internal medicine, pulmonary disease. He is a Fellow of the American College of Chest Physicians and
a member of the American College of Emergency Physicians.
Caremark is a leading pharmaceutical services company that provides, through its affiliates, comprehensive
drug benefit services to more than 2,000 health plan sponsors and their plan participants throughout the
United States.
The Current Evidence - Based Medicine Landscape National Pharmaceutical Council 131
George Lundberg, MD
Editor in Chief of MedGenMed, Editor in Chief of Medscape Core, and Editor in Chief of eMedicine
A 1995 “pioneer” of the medical internet, Dr. Lundberg was born in Florida, grew up in rural southern
Alabama and holds earned and honorary degrees from North Park College, Baylor University, the University of
Alabama (Birmingham and Tuscaloosa), the State University of New York, Syracuse, Thomas Jefferson University
and the Medical College of Ohio. He completed a clinical internship in Hawaii and a pathology residency in San
Antonio. He served in the US Army during the Vietnam War in San Francisco and El Paso, leaving as a lieutenant
colonel after 11 years. Dr. Lundberg was then Professor of Pathology and Associate Director of Laboratories at
the Los Angeles County/USC Medical Center for 10 years, and for five years was Professor and Chair of Pathology
at the University of California-Davis.
Dr. Lundberg has worked in tropical medicine in Central America and Forensic Medicine in New York,
Sweden and England. His major professional interests are toxicology, violence, communication, physician
behavior, strategic management and health system reform. He is past President of the American Society of
Clinical Pathologists. From 1982 to 1999, Dr. Lundberg was at the American Medical Association as Editor in
Chief, Scientific Information and Multimedia with editorial responsibility for its 39 medical journals, American
Medical News, and various Internet products, and the Editor of JAMA.
In 1999 Dr. Lundberg became Editor in Chief of Medscape, the leading source of online health information
and education for physicians and health care professionals and the founding Editor in Chief of both Medscape
General Medicine and CBS HealthWatch.com. In 2002, Dr. Lundberg became Special Healthcare Advisor to the
Chairman and CEO of WebMD. Today, he serves as the Editor in Chief of MedGenMed www.medgenmed.com,
the original open access general medical journal, on Medline/PubMed since 2000, available exclusively on the
www.Medscape.com publishing platform. Dr Lundberg also serves as Editor in Chief of Medscape Core, and,
beginning in 2006, Editor in Chief of eMedicine, the original open access comprehensive medical textbook. A
frequent lecturer, radio and television guest and host in the past, and current webcasting moderator, host and
editorialist, and a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, Dr. Lundberg holds
academic appointments as a professor at Stanford and Harvard. In 2000, the Industry Standard dubbed Dr.
Lundberg “Online Health Care’s Medicine Man”.
132 National Pharmaceutical Council The Current Evidence - Based Medicine Landscape
G. Gregory Raab, MA, PhD
President, Raab & Associates, Inc.
Greg Raab is an independent consultant specializing in technology innovation, reimbursement requirements,
and health policy. His clients include medical technology associations and groups, as well as medical technology
companies.
Before beginning his consulting practice in 2000, Dr. Raab held senior government affairs and health policy
positions at AdvaMed, the Advanced Medical Technology Association, for more than seven years, and at
Medtronic, Inc. for close to ten years. From 1981 to 1983, Dr. Raab staffed Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) in his
role as the Ranking Democratic Member of the Senate Finance Committee’s Health Subcommittee,
concentrating on Medicare policies and hospital reimbursement reform. He also worked for several years at
HCFA (now the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) on a wide range of legislative and policy matters,
as well as the U.S. Public Health Service. He earned his M.A. and PhD. from the University of Virginia.
Alan B. Rosenberg, MD
Vice President of Medical Policy, Technology Assessment and Credentialing Programs for WellPoint, Inc.
Alan B Rosenberg, MD is the Vice President of Medical Policy, Technology Assessment and Credentialing
Programs for WellPoint, Inc. Among his responsibilities, Dr. Rosenberg leads WellPoint’s program (across all of
its affiliated Brands) for medical policy, technology assessment, credentialing, and Clinical Health Policy training.
He is also President of Anthem UM Services, Inc. and of Anthem Credentialing Services Inc. Prior to his current
position, he has served as Chief Medical Officer for Rush Prudential Health Plans; Director in Healthcare
Business Consulting for Arthur Andersen; and Vice President of Medical Affairs and Medical Director for Aetna
US Healthcare of the Midwest, Inc.
Dr. Rosenberg received his undergraduate training from Columbia University in New York and received his
medical degree from New York University Medical School. He completed his residency in Internal Medicine at
the University of Chicago, Michael Reese Hospital.
Dr. Rosenberg is a Fellow of the Institute of Medicine of Chicago, serves as a Board Member of American
Association of Preferred Provider Organizations (AAPPO), member of the Blue Cross Association TEC Medical
Advisory Panel and Medical Policy Panel, several America’s Health Insurance Plan (AHIP) committees, and the
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Effective Healthcare Program Stakeholder Group.
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Eric M. Wall, MD, MPH
Senior Medical Director of Qualis Health
Eric M. Wall, MD, MPH is recently appointed Senior Medical Director of Qualis Health, a private, nonprofit
health care quality improvement organization based in Seattle, WA. He is responsible for supervision of the
Medical Services Department and implementing key strategic goals of the organization. Prior to his current
position, Dr. Wall was the Regional Medical Director for LifeWise Health Plan of Oregon and Premera Blue Cross
in Alaska for 8 years. Dr. Wall is a practicing family physician who taught at the Oregon Health & Sciences
University for 22 years with appointments in the Department of Family Medicine, Public Health and Preventive
Medicine, and the School of Nursing. He was Associate Professor and the first Director of Research in the OSHU
Family Medicine department between 1985 and 1995.
Dr. Wall received his MD degree from the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium and completed his family
medicine residency at the University of Miami-Jackson Memorial Hospital. He completed his Masters in Public
Health at the University of Washington. His research interests have been in the areas of clinical decision-making,
development and implementation of clinical practice guidelines, and evidence-based maternity care.
Dr. Wall served as the Chair of the American Academy of Family Physician’s Commission on Science from
2005-2007. He currently serves on the American Medical Association’s Performance Measures and Evaluation
Subcommittee. He has participated on numerous guideline development panels and most recently worked on the
American Pain Society/American College of Physicians Low Back Pain Guideline Advisory Panel.
134 National Pharmaceutical Council The Current Evidence - Based Medicine Landscape
APPENDIX F:
Center for Medical Technology Policy Staff Bios
The Current Evidence - Based Medicine Landscape National Pharmaceutical Council 135
Wade Aubry, MD
Associate Director, Center for Medical Technology Policy
wade.aubry@cmtpnet.org
Wade M. Aubry, MD is a medical technology consultant, health policy researcher, and clinician based in San
Francisco. He is Senior Advisor for the Health Technology Center (HealthTech), where his work involves
forecasting the impact of emerging technologies on the health care system. He is responsible for HealthTech’s
methodology committee, health plan initiatives program, and federal liaison work, as well as for overseeing the
production and updating of technology forecast reports. He is also Associate Director of the Center for Medical
Technology Policy. Dr. Aubry has extensive experience with the Blue Cross Blue Shield system and Medicare,
especially in technology assessment, coverage decisions, CPT coding, and quality initiatives. He is currently an
advisor to the Blue Shield of California Foundation’s California Technology Assessment Forum and to the Blue
Cross Blue Shield Association on CPT coding issues. He is Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine at the UCSF
Institute for Health Policy Studies and a practicing endocrinologist at Saint Francis Hospital in San Francisco,
where he chairs the hospital’s Institutional Review Board. Previously, he was Vice President of the Lewin Group,
a health care consulting firm, Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer for Blue Shield of California,
Medicare Part B Medical Director for Northern California, and National Medical Consultant for the BCBSA,
where he chaired its Technology Evaluation Center’s national Medical Advisory Panel for 6 years.
Dr. Aubry received his BS degree Phi Beta Kappa from Stanford University, his MD degree from the UCLA
School of Medicine, and his postgraduate training at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. He has served
as a member of the AMA’s committee overseeing the revision of the CPT procedure coding system, NIH
committees related to clinical trials and managed care, the IOM Committee on Technologies for the Early
Detection of Breast Cancer (reported 2001), and the IOM Committee on Establishing a National Cord Blood
Stem Cell Program (reported 2005). Currently, he is a member of the CMS Medicare Coverage Advisory
Committee, the American College of Radiology Imaging Network (ACRIN) Advisory Panel, and the National
Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) Geriatrics Measurement Advisory Panel, where he recently helped
develop a new national performance measure for physical activity in Medicare health plans. His research interests
are in medical technology assessment and coverage decision making. Currently, he is a member of the UCSF
Effectiveness Center for the California Health Benefits Review Program (CHBRP), which produces evidence
reports on proposed health insurance mandates in California. He has lectured internationally and published
numerous articles on medical technology and managed care topics. He is co-author of a comprehensive case
study on bone marrow transplants for breast cancer which will be published in 2006 by Oxford University Press
entitled False Hope vs. Evidence-Based Medicine: Bone Marrow Transplantation for Breast Cancer.
136 National Pharmaceutical Council The Current Evidence - Based Medicine Landscape
Linda Bergthold, PhD
Linda Bergthold is a senior advisor to the Center on Medical Technology Policy. Linda has more than 20 years
of experience in health care consulting and research to public and private purchasers and providers.
Prior to establishing her own consulting and research practice, she was a senior consultant and national
thought leader for the health care practice in the Los Angeles office of Watson Wyatt Worldwide, focusing on
evidence-based benefit design for large employers.
She has also been a vice president and head of the California office of The Lewin Group, a national health
policy consulting firm. At Lewin, she focused on strategic planning, benefit design and technology assessment,
and a principal with the William M. Mercer human resources consulting firm as the leader of their Western
Region managed care practice and national coordinator for health reform. She has been an Adjunct Professor at
the Center for Health Policy at Stanford University doing research on medical necessity and coverage issues in
managed care.
Linda worked on the benefit package for the Health Security Act as co-chair of the Benefits Working Group
for the White House Health Care Reform Task Force in 1993. She currently serves as a consumer representative
on the Medicare Evidence Development and Coverage Advisory Committee in Washington, D.C. She is a board
member of the California Technology Assessment Forum and the National Partnership for Women and Families
and has represented Watson Wyatt on the Integrated Healthcare Association board and the National Business
Group on Health’s Evidence-based Benefit Design Committee in Washington D.C.
Linda holds a BA from the University of California at Los Angeles, and an MA and PhD in Sociology from
the University of California. She was a Pew Health Policy Doctoral Fellow at the Institute for Health Policy, UCSF.
She is a widely published author on benefit design, medical necessity and purchasing strategies, including
“Medical Necessity: Do We Need It?” in Health Affairs 1995. Her book, Purchasing Power in Health was
published by Rutgers Press in 1990.
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international health. She was a founding board member of The California Endowment, the largest private health
care philanthropy in California.
Dr. Coye has her MD and MPH degrees from Johns Hopkins University and is board certified by the
American College of Preventive Medicine. In 2005, she was selected one of the 100 most influential leaders in
health care - and the 25 most influential women in health care - by Modern Healthcare magazine.
138 National Pharmaceutical Council The Current Evidence - Based Medicine Landscape
From 1997 to 2001, she chaired the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, which advises Congress on
payment and other issues relating to Medicare, and from 1995 to 1997, she chaired the Physician Payment Review
Commission. From 2001 to 2003, she co-chaired the President's Task Force to Improve Health Care Delivery for
Our Nation's Veterans, which covered health care for both veterans and military retirees.
Dr. Wilensky testifies frequently before Congressional committees, acts as an advisor to members of Congress
and other elected officials, and speaks nationally and internationally before professional, business and consumer
groups. She received a bachelor's degree in psychology and a PhD in economics at the University of Michigan
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