Evidence-Based Medicine in Health Care Reform

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 mandates a national comparative outcomes research project agenda. Comparative effectiveness research includes both clinical trials and observational studies and is facilitated by electronic health records. A national network of electronic health records will create a vast electronic data “warehouse” with exponential growth of observational data. High-quality associations will identify research topics for pragmatic clinical trials, and systematic reviews of clinical trials will provide optimal evidence-based medicine. Evidence-based medicine is the conscientious, explicit, and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients. Thus, health care reform will provide a robust environment for comparative effectiveness research, systematic reviews, and evidence-based medicine, and implementation of evidence-based medicine should lead to improved quality of care.