Boston, Mass., March 4, 2013 – The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER), a leading academic comparative effectiveness research group based at the Massachusetts General Hospital’s Institute for Technology Assessment, today announced that the next public meeting of the New England Comparative Effectiveness Public Advisory Council (CEPAC) will be held Friday, June 28, 2013 in Portland, Maine.  The topic of this meeting will be community health worker (CHW) programs.  CEPAC members, drawn from clinical and public policy experts from all six New England states, will deliberate and vote on the effectiveness and value of CHW programs in order to determine which components of CHW programs are most associated with improved patient outcomes. A report produced by ICER that translates the findings of a recent comparative effectiveness review on this topic and includes supplemental economic and region-specific analyses will form the basis for the meeting.  Meeting materials will be available online for public comment beginning May 24, 2013.

“Hopes are high that community health workers can be an effective delivery system intervention to improve access to care, reduce healthcare disparities, and improve appropriate healthcare utilization,” stated Steven D. Pearson, MD, MSc, President of ICER. “Important questions remain, however, about the strength of evidence supporting the effectiveness of these programs, and about their overall cost-effectiveness.  Given that program design can be quite different, further analysis is also needed to tease out which components have been most associated with positive outcomes.  The CEPAC process – which brings clinicians, methodologists, and public representatives together to deliberate and vote on the comparative effectiveness and value of different models for care delivery– will provide helpful guidance on how the existing evidence can be applied in practice and policy across New England.”

Meeting Details

Date: Friday, June 28, 2013

Time: 10:00 AM – 4:00PM ET

Location: MaineHealth

110 Free Street

Portland, ME 04101

Members of the public wishing to attend the meeting must register by June 18, 2013 by visiting the “Meeting Registration” section of cepac.icer-review.org.  The website also includes instructions for those wishing to submit written comments ahead of time, and those requesting the opportunity to make public comments at the meeting.

CEPAC is a regional body whose goal is to provide objective, independent guidance on the application of medical evidence to clinical practice and payer policy decisions across New England.  Initially supported by a federal grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), and with backing from a consortium of New England state health policy leaders, CEPAC holds public meetings to consider evidence reviews of medical procedures and broader models for care delivery, and provide judgments regarding how the evidence can best be used across New England to improve the quality and value of healthcare services.  CEPAC consists of practicing physicians with experience in evaluating and using evidence in the practice of healthcare, methodological experts, as well as patient/public members with experience in health policy, patient advocacy and public health.  ICER manages the day-to-day operations of CEPAC with the input of a multi-stakeholder Advisory Board.  A list of CEPAC members and Advisory Board members, as well as other information about the project, is available online at cepac.icer-review.org.

The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER), based at the Massachusetts General Hospital’s Institute for Technology Assessment (ITA) and an affiliate of Harvard Medical School, provides independent evaluation of the clinical effectiveness and comparative value of new and emerging technologies. Structured as a fully transparent organization, ICER seeks to achieve its ultimate mission of informing public policy and spurring innovation in the use of evidence to improve the value of health care for all.  For more information, please visit www.icer-review.org. 

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