Tuesday, March 3

12:00 PM (Luncheon to Follow)

POLICY FORUM: Should Government Deliver Comparative-Effectiveness Research – or Can It?

Studies comparing the effectiveness of medical treatments have the potential to reduce health care costs by helping purchasers, such as Medicare, eliminate low-value services. Health care analysts generally agree that current institutions underproduce comparative-effectiveness research, which would seem to be a public good. Many, therefore, want Congress to fund such research. But is market failure really the culprit? And would taxpayer-funded research solve the problem, or would it lead to government rationing? Or would it have no effect on health care costs?

Featuring Shannon Brownlee, Visiting Scholar, NIH Clinical Center, Dept. of Bioethics, and also Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation; Scott Gottlieb, M.D., Resident Fellow, American Enterprise Institute; and Michael F. Cannon, Director of Health Policy Studies, Cato Institute.

Check back here to watch the forum live online.