Coordinating Center for the Ahrq Centers for Education and Research on Therapeutics Program

The summary for the Coordinating Center for the Ahrq Centers for Education and Research on Therapeutics Program grant is detailed below. This summary states who is eligible for the grant, how much grant money will be awarded, current and past deadlines, Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) numbers, and a sampling of similar government grants. Verify the accuracy of the data FederalGrants.com provides by visiting the webpage noted in the Link to Full Announcement section or by contacting the appropriate person listed as the Grant Announcement Contact. If any section is incomplete, please visit the website for the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality, which is the U.S. government agency offering this grant.

Coordinating Center for the Ahrq Centers for Education and Research on Therapeutics Program: The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) invites applications from non-profit and for-profit organizations to act as the coordinating center for the Centers for Education and Research on Therapeutics (CERTs)Program. The program consists of seven geographically dispersed research centers receiving multi-year funding. CERTs is an ongoing multi-year program that supports research demonstration centers. Detailed information on the program can be obtained at http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/certsovr.htm. Congress expanded the authority of AHCPR under the Food and Drug Administration Modernization Act of 1997 (P.L. 105-115), to conduct a demonstration program to conduct research and provide objective information on therapeutics. The centers (CERTs) were created under Sec. 409, which adds a new section (Sec. 905) to the authorizing statute for AHRQ (Public Health Services Act Title IX--42 U.S.C. 299 et seq.). AHRQ administers the demonstration program, in close consultation with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The program's legislative mandate is to conduct state-of-the-art research to increase awareness of (1) new uses of drugs, biological products, and devices; (2) ways to improve the effective use of drugs, biological products, and devices; and (3) risks of new uses and risks of combinations of drugs and biological products. Further, the legislation directs CERTs to provide objective clinical information to the following individuals and entities: (1) health care practitioners and other providers of health care goods or services; (2) pharmacists, pharmacy benefit managers and purchasers; (3) health maintenance organizations and other managed health care organizations; (4) health care insurers and governmental agencies; and (5) patients and consumers. Additionally, the centers are to investigate various ways to improve the quality of health care while reducing the cost of health care through an increase in the appropriate use of drugs, biological products, or devices, and the prevention of adverse effects of drugs, biological products, and devices and the consequences of such effects, such as unnecessary hospitalizations. Finally, the CERTs will conduct research on the comparative effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, and safety of drugs, biological products, and devices. For the purposes of this document, therapeutics are defined as drugs, biologics, and devices. A CERTs research center is defined as an organization with a core group of investigators with either institutional or similar kinds of professional bonds who have strong experience in the area of research in therapeutics. The research center may be a consortium of organizations, although it is expected that members of a consortium will provide collateral or supplemental support to the applicant organization. The role of coordinating center (CC) is not to lead the program, but to facilitate the leadership of the CERTs Steering Committee (SC), consisting of the research centers , government agencies, and other members, through logistical support and active participation in committee.