As we continue to develop our resources and approaches to combat the escalation in chronic disease, the comparative effectiveness work currently being performed by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) has the potential to be extremely valuable for patients and their health care providers. But it’s hard to know whether that research will meet that potential by generating data that will be practical and usable in improving and targeting health care delivery.

This is a topic that deserves discussion and engagement a multiple stakeholders, including health care providers, patients, payers and policymakers, among others. A right step in this direction is the symposium taking place on September 30, “Putting Patients First: Paving a Path to Useful CER.” The event, taking place at the W Hotel in Washington, D.C., is being co-hosted by the National Pharmaceutical Council, the National Health Council, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) and PCORI.

This is an important forum to attend. The main focus will be on a National Health Council effort to create a framework to help guide CER development, evaluate results and make sure results are communicated effectively to the right audiences.

Again, CER can be an important weapon in our arsenal to fight chronic disease. We need to fully understand, though, how it can be deployed to greatest effect. Events like the September 30 forum will help sharpen our thinking as we move forward.