41914 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 159 / Wednesday, August 19, 2009 / Notices 

beginning in the fall, 2009, with funding 

to commence in spring, 2010. Interested 

parties may sign up to receive updates 

about AHRQ’s Effective Health Care 

Program at http:// 

effectivehealthcare.ahrq.gov/. 

ADDRESSES: The future CER solicitations 

will be published in the NIH Guide: 

http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/ 

index.html. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Until the solicitations are published, 

AHRQ cannot provide information on 

their contents. 

Direct any general comments 

regarding the Effective Health Care 

program to: Lia Hotchkiss, MPH, PMP, 

Center for Outcomes and Evidence, 

Agency for Healthcare Research and 

Quality, 540 Gaither Road, Rockville, 

MD 20850, Telephone: 301–427–1502, 

E-mail address: 

Effectivehealthcare@ahrq.hhs.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

The Agency for Healthcare Research 

and Quality (AHRQ) has been 

supporting comparative effectiveness 

research for many years and since 2005 

through AHRQ’s Effective Health Care 

Program, which was authorized under 

Section 1013 of the Medicare 

Prescription Drug, Improvement, and 

Modernization Act of 2003. The 

Effective Health Care program provides 

systematic reviews and develops other 

translational information and tools 

designed to inform health care decision 

making. The Effective Health Care 

Program advances the methodology of 

comparative effectiveness research 

(CER) and provides training grants to 

enhance the pool of researchers who can 

perform CER. 

Comparative Effectiveness Research 

Initiative Description 

Funding Opportunity 

Announcements soliciting research 

grant applications for CER will provide 

$148 million for evidence generation. 

This includes $100 million for the 

Clinical and Health Outcomes Initiative 

in Comparative Effectiveness (CHOICE), 

a new, coordinated, national effort to 

establish a series of prospective 

pragmatic clinical comparative 

effectiveness studies that measure the 

benefits treatments produce in routine 

clinical practice and will include novel 

study designs focusing on real-world 

and under-represented populations 

(children, elderly, racial and ethnic 

minorities, and other understudied 

populations), and $48 million for the 

establishment or enhancement of 

national patient registries that can be 

used for researching the longitudinal 

effects of different interventions and 

collecting data on under-represented 

populations. Additional grant funding is 

expected to include $29.5 million to 

support innovative translation and 

dissemination grants related to CER, as 

well as $20 million to support training 

and career development in CER. 

Requests for Contracts for CER will 

provide $9.5 million to establish an 

infrastructure to identify new and/or 

emerging issues for comparative 

effectiveness review investments. Also, 

$10 million will establish a Citizen’s 

Forum to formally engage all 

stakeholders, and to expand and 

standardize public involvement in the 

entire Effective Health Care enterprise. 

Additionally, AHRQ anticipates 

supporting other grants ($1 million) and 

enhancing existing contracts for 

evidence synthesis ($50 million), 

evidence generation ($24 million), 

translation and dissemination ($5 

million), and salary and benefits for 

ARRA-related full-time equivalent 

positions ($3 million). 

Dated: August 11, 2009. 

Carolyn M. Clancy, 

AHRQ, Director. 

[FR Doc. E9–19758 Filed 8–18–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4160–90–M 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

National Institutes of Health 

National Institute of Diabetes and 

Digestive and Kidney Diseases; Notice 

of Closed Meeting 

Pursuant to section 10(d) of the 

Federal Advisory Committee Act, as 

amended (5 U.S.C. App.), notice is 

hereby given of the following meeting. 

The meeting will be closed to the 

public in accordance with the 

provisions set forth in sections 

552b(c)(4) and 552b(c)(6), Title 5 U.S.C., 

as amended. The grant applications and 

the discussions could disclose 

confidential trade secrets or commercial 

property such as patentable material, 

and personal information concerning 

individuals associated with the grant 

applications, the disclosure of which 

would constitute a clearly unwarranted 

invasion of personal privacy. 

Name of Committee: National Institute of 

Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases 

Special Emphasis Panel; P01 Application. 

Date: October 28, 2009. 

Time: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

Agenda: To review and evaluate grant 

applications. 

Place: Bethesda Marriott Suites, 6711 

Democracy Boulevard, Bethesda, MD 20817. 

Contact Person: D. G. Patel, PhD, Scientific 

Review Officer, Review Branch, DEA, 

NIDDK, National Institutes of Health, Room 

756, 6707 Democracy Boulevard, Bethesda, 

MD 20892–5452, (301) 594–7682, 

pateldg@niddk.nih.gov. 

(Catalogue of Federal Domestic Assistance 

Program Nos. 93.847, Diabetes, 

Endocrinology and Metabolic Research; 

93.848, Digestive Diseases and Nutrition 

Research; 93.849, Kidney Diseases, Urology 

and Hematology Research, National Institutes 

of Health, HHS) 

Dated: August 11, 2009. 

Jennifer Spaeth, 

Director, Office of Federal Advisory 

Committee Policy. 

[FR Doc. E9–19889 Filed 8–18–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4140–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

National Institutes of Health 

Office of the Director, National 

Institutes of Health; Notice of Meeting 

Pursuant to section 10(a) of the 

Federal Advisory Committee Act, as 

amended (5 U.S.C. App.), notice is 

hereby given of a meeting of the 

Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee. 

The meeting will be open to the 

public, with attendance limited to space 

available. Individuals who plan to 

attend and need special assistance, such 

as sign language interpretation or other 

reasonable accommodations, should 

notify the Contact Person listed below 

in advance of the meeting. 

Name of Committee: Recombinant DNA 

Advisory Committee. 

Date: September 9–10, 2009. 

Time: September 9, 2009, 1:15 p.m. to 5:45 

p.m. 

Agenda: The Recombinant DNA Advisory 

Committee will review and discuss selected 

human gene transfer protocols as well as 

related data management activities. Please 

check the meeting agenda at http:// 

oba.od.nih.gov/rdna/rdna.html for more 

information. 

Place: Hilton Washington/Rockville, 1750 

Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852. 

Time: September 10, 2009, 8:30 a.m. to 11 

a.m. 

Agenda: The Recombinant DNA Advisory 

Committee will review and discuss selected 

human gene transfer protocols as well as 

related data management activities. Please 

check the meeting agenda at http:// 

oba.od.nih.gov/rdna/rdna.html for more 

information. 

Place: Hilton Washington/Rockville, 1750 

Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852. 

Contact Person: Laurie Lewallen, Advisory 

Committee Coordinator, Office of 

Biotechnology Activities, National Institutes 

of Health, 6705 Rockledge Drive, Room 750, 


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