The spin is on big time when it comes to changing healthcare. (Note that I am not using the term reform, which suggests improvement. President Obama ran on a platform of change -- not reform. I'm convinced our healthcare system will change but not necessarily for the better.)
One of the president's healthcare buzz terms was comparative-effectiveness research (CER) -- also known as cost-effectiveness research in some circles. Because of legitimate concerns that CER could lead to a one-size-fits-all healthcare system, the government has come up with a new name for it. Now it's "patient-centered research," according to a news release put out today by HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. The purpose of this research is to "help give patients and doctors more information so they can make the best decisions," the news release says.
No matter how you spin it, the gist is the same. We are spending $1.1 billion in "stimulus" money on CER to find out how to limit Medicare/Medicaid coverage without cutting entitlements. Of course, most of our money will never be spent on research. Much of it has to pay for the council that was set up to steer the research, the reports that various agencies are doing to discuss the need for the research, all the "listening sessions" in which said council will listen to public health officials describe the problems to be solved by the research, preparation for congressional hearings on the research, education (read "propaganda") programs to sell us on the results of the research, etc. Very little will be left to actually spend on the research.
The council today made a number of recommendations on how the HHS secretary should spend her $400 million of the $1.1 billion CER stimulus money. Topping the list? "It is critically important to be able to share the results of comparative effectiveness research with doctors and patients and make better investments in how information is disseminated," the news release says. In other words: spin, baby, spin. That's our tax dollars at work.
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