The Joseph H. Kanter Family Foundation and the eHealth Initiative Foundation have launched a pilot project for a distributed research network that leverages electronic health records to support the clinical effectiveness of treatments for certain conditions and diseases.

The Partnership for Connecting for Research on Outcomes and Effectiveness will work with experts and healthcare stakeholders to explore the organizational, technical and policy aspects of using a distributed network to give physicians and patients the best data on treatments for a particular disease.

Over an 18-month period, the partnership will support research to improve evidence on medical care, including the comparative effectiveness of alternative treatments and strategies for delivering care.

The eHealth Initiative Foundation, an independent, non-profit, multi-stakeholder organization, will staff and coordinate the activities of the partnership.

"We are delighted to be partnering with the Joseph H. Kanter Family Foundation on this important initiative," said Janet M. Marchibroda, eHealth Initiative's chief executive officer. "Health IT and the responsible use of anonymized electronic health information promise to considerably advance the quality, safety and effectiveness of healthcare in our country, not only by providing significant support to research on better evidence, but also by bringing the results of that research to doctors and their patients to help them make better healthcare decisions."encourages outcomes research projects and promotes efforts to foster public understanding that better treatment outcomes data will improve quality of care by reducing unnecessary treatments and medical errors.

Joseph H. Kanter, chairman of the Joseph H. Kanter Family Foundation, said a nationwide public-private partnership to use electronic data for outcomes research has been a long-time goal for him.