About CERTs
Annual Report Year 1
Year 1 Progress
Developing Knowledge | Managing Risk | Improving Practice | Informing Policies | Program-wide Activities
Informing Policies
We aim to provide policymakers with the information needed to make informed choices, by describing the scientific underpinnings for possible policies designed to improve the use of therapies. For example, Investigator Dr. Lucy Savitz testified about the CERTs program in September at the National Summit on Medical Errors and Patient Safety Research, organized by AHRQ.
Children and Adolescents
Unlike drugs, devices, and biological products, the clinical effects of policy changes typically don't undergo prospective evaluation. Our project in a Medicaid population will assess the effects of losing insurance coverage on clinical outcomes in children with asthma.
We have published a preliminary CERTs study that shows a link between a lack of vitamin D supplementation and the development of rickets in breast-fed children, especially among black infants. As a result of this study, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services has begun making vitamin D available free to breast-feeding women throughout the State.
Adults
We are examining the effects of two policy changes on clinical outcomes in a large Medicaid population:
- Changing quickly to a different third-party administrator for mental-health coverage.
- Differences in the drugs approved for use among managed-care organizations.