Comparative effectiveness. Federal government's push for more data to benefit supply chain.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 provided $1.1 billion to help fund comparative effectiveness research. Some of this money will be used to fund studies that will examine the effectiveness between drugs, medical devices and/or procedures for the same condition. The findings from this research may eventually provide materials managers with information on how products such as knee, hip and spinal implants perform. What follows is a look at the comparative effectiveness movement and what it may mean to the health care supply chain.