About CERTs
Annual Report Year 5
CERTs Partnerships and Collaborations
The Risk Series | Partnerships to Advance Therapeutics (PATHs) | Government Day
Partnerships to Advance Therapeutics (PATHs)
Established by the CERTs in 2001, the PATHs program is a means to cultivate partnerships among organizations interested in promoting the safe and effective use of therapeutics.
Every year, the CERTs host a meeting for PATHs partners. Participating organizations represent patients, health care providers, government, academia, delivery systems, payers, purchasers, and manufacturers of medical products. The theme for the fifth annual meeting was PATHs Success Stories: Present and Future. PATHs partners shared information on successfully completed projects.
The PATHs meeting also provides a forum for organizations to plan and implement goals related to the improvement of therapeutics. This year, participants discussed long-term goals, developed by AHRQ in conjunction with the CERTs. The goals were based on the prevention of: (1) infectious disease, (2) cardiac disease, and (3) gastrointestinal side effects of drugs. At the meeting, small-group breakout sessions identified project ideas and potential partners for each goal to be considered by the PATHs partners.
Annual PATHs Meeting Highlights
heartBBEAT for life®-a national campaign to educate heartattack survivors, caregivers, and health care providers about why long-term use of cardiac medications is important. As a result of this project, three continuing medical education (CME) activities were created to provide the most current evidence on beta-blocker therapy after heart attack, to help practitioners better understand the barriers to adherence, and to provide information that can help motivate patients to continue with beta-blocker therapy.
Caring for Children with ADHD: A Resource Toolkit-for children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It includes tools for patients, families, and health care providers and is available at nichq.org/resources/toolkit.
The PATHs program is an integral part of the CERTs program and exemplifies the value of public-private partnership. A registry of PATHs partner projects can be accessed through the CERTs Web site at: http://www.certs.hhs.gov/partners/paths/regis/