What Is CER?
Comparative Effectiveness Research (CER) seeks to determine which medical interventions and strategies work best, for whom, and under what circumstances. See PCORI's definition of CER and of Patient Centered Outcomes Research (PCOR).
More Definitions of CER
Comparative effectiveness research is the conduct and synthesis of research comparing the benefits and harms of different interventions and strategies to prevent, diagnose, treat and monitor health conditions in "real world" settings. The purpose of this research is to improve health outcomes by developing and disseminating evidence-based information to patients, clinicians, and other decision-makers, responding to their expressed needs, about which interventions are most effective for which patients under specific circumstances. To provide this information, comparative effectiveness research must assess a comprehensive array of health-related outcomes for diverse patient populations and sub-groups. Defined interventions compared may include medications, procedures, medical and assistive devices and technologies, diagnostic testing, behavioral change, and delivery system strategies. This research necessitates the development, expansion, and use of a variety of data sources and methods to assess comparative effectiveness and actively disseminate the results. (from Report to the President and the Congress on Comparative Effectiveness Research, 2009)
Most definitions of CER involve not only comparing two or more active interventions, but also
- conducting these assessments in settings with real-world significance
- evaluating for heterogeneity of intervention effects across different subgroups of patients
- focusing on perspectives of different stakeholders, with a particular emphasis on patient-centered outcomes.
UCSF Educational Programs
Educational offerings at UCSF include a webinar on CER and PCORI, courses in the UCSF Training in Clinical Research Program, and archived presentations of symposia and lectures given by UCSF faculty.
Online Webinar
Getting Your PCORI Grant Funded: Advice from Insiders is a webinar that provided high-value advice on strategies for maximizing your chance of funding success.
Other UCSF Resources
PCORI Proposal Library
Learn by example — view examples of successful UCSF proposals generously provided by members of the UCSF community (UCSF access only).
Community-Engaged Research
- Guides and Manuals
- San Francisco Bay Collaborative Research Network: access to community-based stakeholders and study subjects
- Get expert consultation in Community-Engaged Research and Practice-Based Research Design and Recruitment (SFBayCRN)
Population Health and Health Services Research Datasets
A searchable database with more than 100 dataset resources for population health, health services research and health equity research.
- Explore the datasets
- Resources for geocoding and health equity can be found at Population Health & Health Equity
- Get expert consultation
OptumLabs Data Warehouse (OLDW)
UCoP has partnered with OptumLabs, a collaborative center for research and innovation, to provide access to 160 million de-identified records across claims and clinical information to conduct investigations on populations and unique subsets within them. Learn more about OLDW
Infrastructure Support for Multicenter Studies and Clinical Trials
- The San Francisco Coordinating Center is a collaborative enterprise among researchers from the CPMC Research Institute and the UCSF Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics.
Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses
- The United States Cochrane Center is part of a collaboration that publishes systematic reviews to promote evidence-informed health decision-making.
External Resources
- The Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) has an excellent website with information on the types of research it funds, and methodology guides to support the development of high-quality research that is consistent with its mission.
More External Resources for CER
Training and References
- Online courses on CER methods are offered by:
- Tufts CTSI
- UC Davis CTSA
- Ohio State University College of Public Health and CCTS
- University of Washington Institute of Translational Health Sciences
- Online courses and materials about patient and stakeholder engagement are available through
- Health Affairs' videos and related content on patient engagement
- The Center for Medical Technology and Policy offers a variety of white papers and presentations on various aspects of CER.
- Pragmatic clinical trials
- A brief primer and resources on pragmatic clinical trials from the Center for Medical Technology Policy
Resource Guides and Best Practices
- PCORI Methodology Standards and Report (pdf)
- GRACE principles (best practices for the design, conduct, analysis, and reporting of observational CER studies).
- Methods guides for conducting comparative effectiveness assessments and reviews (AHRQ)
- A user's guide to registries to improve patient outcomes (AHRQ)
- Finding What Works in Health Care: Standards for Systematic Reviews (Institute of Medicine)
Conducting Pubmed Searches for CER
Other Resources
Compendia of resources and programs:
- Effective Health Care Program (AHRQ's umbrella program for CER)
- CER resources from the National Library of Medicine
- CER resources from Academy Health
- CER resources from the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR)
- CER resources from the ECRI Institute
Collaborations, research centers, and research networks:
- Electronic Data Methods (EDM) Forum for Comparative Effectiveness Research: A forum to facilitate learning and collaboration across a set of CER projects designed to build infrastructure and methods for collecting and analyzing prospective electronic clinical data
- Centers for Education and Research on Therapeutics (CERTs)
- DARTNet
- Centers for Primary Care Practice-Based Research and Learning
Data sources:
- Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Grants On-Line Database
- Society of General Internal Medicine Research Dataset Compendium: Descriptions of and links to high-value publicly available research datasets
