Norman Daniels will speak on “Comparative Effectiveness Research: What it can and cannot help with in priority setting,” October 20, 2010. His talk is sponsored by the Comparative Effectiveness Study Group, which is a component of the Consortium for Health Policy, Law, and Bioethics and is supported by a grant from the Indiana Humanities Council. His lecture will be an excellent opportunity to learn more about the issues surrounding comparative effectiveness research.

Comparative effectiveness research, which has become an integral part of advanced health care research, should be a fundamental tool for health care policy and reform. It focuses on comparing two or more treatments to determine which treatment works best for which patient under what circumstances. It is designed to assist in health care decision making by providing information regarding the likelihood of the benefits and harms of different treatments. Treatments that can be compared include drugs, medical devices, tests, surgeries, and other health services. Comprehensive arrays of health-related outcomes are assessed for diverse patient populations in order to provide not only general information, but also information that is helpful to a patient’s specific circumstance.

Norman Daniels is the Mary B. Saltonstall Professor and Professor of Ethics and Population Health at Harvard School of Public Health. He has written widely in philosophy and medical ethics. He has published over 150 articles in anthologies and journals. His books include, Just Health Care and its sequel, Just Health: Meeting Health Needs Fairly, a book that integrates his work into a comprehensive theory of justice for health. He has served as a member of the Public Health Service Expert Panel on Effectiveness and Clinical Preventive Medicine, as a member of a Century Fund task force on Medicare reform, and the IOM Committee on the use of Cost Effectiveness Analysis in regulatory contexts.