We are pleased to inform you of the August 7, Notice of Intent to Publish from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to publish grant and contract solicitations for comparative effectiveness research projects with $300 million in funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). AHRQ anticipates grant and contract solicitations to be published beginning in fall 2009 with awards starting in spring 2010.

AHRQ has supported comparative effectiveness research for many years. Since 2005, this research has been funded through the Agencyâ??s Effective Health Care Program, which provides systematic reviews, supports new research to fill information gaps, and develops other translational information and tools designed to inform health care decision making.

AHRQ’s comparative effectiveness research projects that will be funded under ARRA will focus initially on 14 priority conditions that the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services established under Section 1013 of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003, which can be found at http://effectivehealthcare.ahrq.gov/aboutUs.cfm?abouttype=program#Conditions.

Grants for comparative effectiveness research funded under ARRA include the following amounts and areas:

• $148 million for evidence generation, including prospective studies and patient registries.
• $29.5 million to support innovative translation and dissemination grants.
• $20 million to support training and career development.

Contracts for comparative effectiveness research funded under ARRA include the following amounts and topics:

• $9.5 million to establish an infrastructure to identify new issues for comparative effectiveness review investments.
• $10 million to establish a citizen’s forum to formally engage all stakeholders and to expand and standardize public involvement in the entire effective health care enterprise.

Additionally, AHRQ anticipates supporting other grants ($1 million) and enhancing existing contracts for evidence synthesis ($50 million), evidence generation ($24 million), translation and dissemination ($5 million), and salary and benefits for ARRA-related full-time equivalent positions ($3 million).

Until the solicitations are published, AHRQ cannot provide additional information on their contents. In the meantime, interested parties may sign up to receive e-mail updates about AHRQ’s Effective Health Care Program by clicking on the red envelope at the top of http://effectivehealthcare.ahrq.gov/.

• Teresa Lee | Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed)
• Sanjay V. Joag, MD, PhD | Advocate Medical Group
• Susan L. Hildebrandt | American Academy of Family Physicians
• David T. Tayloe, Jr, MD, FAAP | American Academy of Pediatrics
• William Lang, MPH | American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy
• Tami L. Wahl | American Association for Health Freedom
• Edwin Webb | American College of Clinical Pharmacy
• Samuel Lin, MD, PhD, MBA, MPA, MS | American Medical Group Association
• James H. Bray, PhD | American Psychological Association
• Nancy Smith | Health Advancement Collaborative of Central New York
• Harrison Spencer | Association of Schools of Public Health
• Peter DeNucci | Apollo Publishing, Inc.
• John Lewis | Association of Clinical Research Organizations
• Frank Kondrad | AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals
• Merrill Goozner | Center for Science in the Public Interest
• Christina Bethell, PhD, MBA, MPH |The Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative
• William Vaughan | Consumers Union
• Michael E. Stuart | Delfini Group
• Martyn W.C. Howgill | Institute for Health Technology Studies (InHealth)
• Elisa Cascade | iGuard.org
• Raymond J. Baxter, PhD | Kaiser Permanente
• Sandra C. Raymond | Lupus Foundation of America
• Jordan Green | National Alliance for Caregiving
• Basit Chaudhry, MD, PhD | The National Coalition for Health Integration
• Hazel Moran | The National Working Group on Evidence-based Health Care
• Mark Leahy | Medical Device Manufacturers Association

To see the full list please visit the AHRQ website at: http://www.ahrq.gov/about/nac/test040309.htm