AHRQ Expands Therapeutics Education and Research Centers and Adds New Topics: Health IT, Economics, F...(dical Center which will focus is i...),Health

improving pediatric patient care through projects, such as how

children's metabolism may affect drug effectiveness and safety; and

-- The University of Chicago which will focus is hospital use of

medications and other therapeutics and their clinical and economic

implications.

Six previously funded CERTs research centers won new funding awards. They are: Duke University (therapies for disorders of the heart and blood vessels); Harvard Pilgrim Health Care on behalf of the HMO Research Network (drug use, safety, and effectiveness in defined populations cared for by health plans); University of Alabama at Birmingham (therapies for disorders of the joints and bones); The Arizona CERT at The Critical Path Institute (potentially harmful drug interactions, particularly in women); University of Pennsylvania (therapies for infectious diseases); and Vanderbilt University (prescription drug use in a Medicaid population).

The remaining four centers, which received funding in 2006, are: MD Anderson, Texas (risk and health communication; patient, consumer, and professional education); Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (mental health therapies); the University of Iowa (improving elderly care, both therapeutics and care management); and the Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York (therapeutic medical devices).

The CERTs program, which AHRQ administers in partnership with the FDA, was originally authorized by Congress in 1997 to examine the benefits, risks, and cost-effectiveness of therapeutic products; educate patients, consumers, doctors, pharmacists, and other clinical personnel; and improve quality of care while reducing unnecessary costs by increasing appropriate use of therapeutics and preventing adverse effects and their medical consequences. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

Contact: AHRQ Public Affairs

(301)427-1258

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