US Sen Baucus: `Effectiveness' Part Of Health-Care Bill
By Patrick Yoest, Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., said
Tuesday he expects Senate health-care legislation will include provisions
encouraging doctors to compare drugs and therapies for their effectiveness.
Baucus spoke at the Brookings Institution Tuesday about "comparative
effectiveness research," which saw $1.1 billion from the federal stimulus
package earlier this year. Baucus said he plans to re-introduce legislation with
Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., that further boosts the research.
Comparative effectiveness, which allows doctors and patients to utilize
publicly-available information on medical treatments, has emerged as something
of a political lightning rod this year. Some conservative Republicans are
suggesting it would result in rationing of health care.
Baucus sought to dispel that notion Tuesday, saying that the research would
not be used solely to cut costs.
"I think that we'll be able to get this included in health care reform ... as
long as we make it clear that there's no cost-benefit analysis here," Baucus
said.
Baucus also made it clear that he would seek to include transparency
requirements in comparative effectiveness legislation, suggesting that research
findings should be debated publicly.
"Nothing should be done behind closed doors without public input," Baucus
said.
-By Patrick Yoest, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-3554; patrick.yoest@
dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
06-09-091034ET
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