"Lessons for public hospital managers are much the same as the lessons gleaned from leaders of private hospitals," writes the author of the introduction to the series. "Leaders at these three institutions made strong commitments of time (their own and that of their leadership teams) to quality improvement. They strived to create a culture in which frontline workers felt personally responsible for the quality of care their patients received. They backed up their commitment with resources to enable data collection as well as performance tracking and reporting" (Silow-Carroll, 7/7).

Commonwealth Fund: Use of Comparative Effectiveness Research In Drug Coverage And Pricing Decisions: A Six-Country Comparison - This issue brief examines the use of CER in decisions in Denmark, England, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden, highlighting how CER is applied to drug coverage, pricing and cost-sharing decisions, as well as potential lessons for the U.S.

"Currently, while there are no blanket prohibitions in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act regarding the use of CER by public and private payers, it remains to be seen how such research will be used in the U.S.," writes the author of this brief. "Based on the experience of Europe, the uptake and impact of CER may be limited if it does not have the authority to formally link research with policy and practice. Establishing a more formal link can improve the transparency of coverage decisions in the public domain and ensure that such policies are based on independent, scientific assessment" (Sorenson, 7/2).

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