WASHINGTON—The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is seeking public comment on how to build a database of comparative effectiveness research that patients, clinicians and policymakers can access through the Internet.

The project is being financed by $1.1 billion allocated to HHS, the National Institutes of Health and the Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

According to a request for information published in the July 19 Federal Register, the medical interventions that might be tracked in the database include drugs, procedures, medical devices and technologies, laboratory testing, behavioral change and health care delivery strategies.

The requested information includes suggestions about which sources of comparative effectiveness research should be used and ways to encourage participation in the database, how to categorize content, and how to ensure that the database remains useful and sustainable over time.

Comments, which must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. EDT Aug. 9, can be sent electronically at www.regulations.gov or in writing, with one original and two copies, to the Department of HHS, Attention: CER Inventory, Hubert H. Humphrey Building, Room 447-D, 200 Independence Ave. S.W., Washington, D.C., 20201.