About CERTs
Annual Report Year 4
AHRQ Letter | Steering Committee Letter | Introduction | CERTs Progress | Certs Program Resources | Certs Parnerships and Collaborations | Conclusion | The CERTs Organization | Principles of CERTs Public-Private Partnerships | Peer-Reviewed Publications
Introduction
The Centers for Education & Research on Therapeutics (CERTs) were mandated by Congress to benefit the American people. Whether you are a consumer, health care provider, or policymaker, you need information about the benefits and risks of medical therapies. The CERTs are working to uncover this information and make it widely known. Medical therapies are commonly referred to as "therapeutics," and they include drugs, medical devices, and biological products.
The CERTs were established in 1999 by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) in consultation with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The program is administered as a cooperative agreement and receives funds from both public and private sources, with AHRQ providing core financial support.
The CERTs consist of a network of seven research centers and a coordinating center dedicated to improving the quality and safety of therapeutics. Projects are aimed at advancing knowledge; informing health care providers, patients, and policymakers about that knowledge; and improving aspects of the health care system related to therapeutics.
Our projects are diverse. They range from learning which drugs cause irregular heart rhythms to evaluating changes in Medicaid policy to identifying better ways for health care providers to write prescriptions.
As we move into our fifth year, more and more of the CERTs projects focus on technology. We live in an era of unprecedented scientific achievement and demand for the best technology available. We are committed to studying how technology is being used in the health care setting and how it can be improved. A number of our projects focus on improving computerized prescribing systems used by health care providers. These advances are likely to have wide-reaching results that could ultimately improve the quality and reduce the cost of health care.
In this report, we highlight many CERTs research and educational projects completed during the past year. We also highlight some of the research projects that are planned or in progress. These projects show a glimpse of the tremendous challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.
Medical Therapies |
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| CATEGORY | EXAMPLES |
| Drugs | Prescriptions; over-the-counter medicines |
| Medical devices | Blood glucose monitors; cardiac laser devices |
| Biological products | Vaccines; blood products |
The Centers |
|
| CENTER | EMPHASIS |
| Duke University Medical Center | Therapies for disorders of the heart and blood vessels |
| HMO Research Network | Drug use; safety and effectiveness studies in health maintenance organization populations |
| University of Alabama at Birmingham | Therapies for musculoskeletal disorders |
| University of Arizona Health Sciences Center | Reduction of drug interactions that result in harm to women |
| University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | Therapies for children |
| University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine | Therapies for infection; reduction in antibiotic drug resistance |
| Vanderbilt University Medical Center | Prescription drug use in a Medicaid population |