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Vision

The overall vision of the HMO Research Network (HMORN) CERT is to advance population health through acquisition and widespread dissemination of knowledge about best therapeutics practices. We accomplish this by taking advantage of the research and dissemination opportunities afforded by health plans’ defined populations, their large provider groups, and their unique data sources. In the aggregate, these health plans cover a substantial majority of the U.S. population. The HMORN CERT’s theme is, " Improving therapeutics' use, safety, and effectiveness, through research, dissemination, and education using health plans' defined populations, providers, delivery systems, and data."

Description

The HMORN CERT was initiated in 2000 on the premise health plans can play a critical national role in improving the safe and effective use of therapeutics. Health plans’ large populations, automated record linkage systems, available medical records, and access to clinicians and members makes them ideal for addressing many questions about how drugs/biologics/devices are used, how well they work in populations not well studied before marketing and under conditions of actual use, how to support clinicians’ decision making, how to encourage patients’ adherence, and how costs and benefits are arrayed. In many cases they are also well positioned to disseminate new information to clinicians and patients through tailored educational programs.

This CERT is an activity of the HMO Research Network (www.hmoresearchnetwork.org), a consortium of health plans with integrated investigator groups committed to public domain research that advances population health. 13 health plans form the core of the HMORN CERT. Together, these health plans care for nearly 11 million members, representing ~4% of the U.S. population—enough to address many public health issues that are beyond the power of their individual populations. They are diverse across age, gender, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and geography, and they include a wide array of medical care delivery models. Additionally, through its collaboration with America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), this CERT relates to health plans covering more than 200 million individuals.

The HMORN CERT has substantially advanced the nation’s ability to assess therapeutics for adults and children, to test interventions to improve care, and to disseminate care improvement methods to clinicians and to patients. HMORN CERT investigators’ research has influenced national drug policy (e.g., Medicare and Medicaid) and they engage in notable national and leadership activities in the areas of therapeutics.