The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services should make policy changes to ensure that research is appropriate to the needs of Medicare beneficiaries, a Medicare advisory board says.

CMS’s clinical trial policy should include new “Medicare-specific” standards for coverage, according to the recent report from the panelists of the Medicare Evidence Development & Coverage Advisory Committee (formerly called the Medicare Coverage Advisory Committee).

Among the proposed standards: The trials should be registered on the government’s clinical trial Web site; the protocol should specify the method and timing of the public release of the findings, regardless of outcome; and the protocol should explicitly address the ways in which the trial will affect certain “subpopulations” affected by technology.

(Published on 12-19-06)