2DkcTXceO

33Statistics in a new era for finance andhealth careTze Leung LaiDepartment of StatisticsStanford University, Stanford, CAWe are entering a new era in finance in the wake of the recent financial crisisand financial reform, and in health care as the provisions of the AffordableCare Act are being implemented from 2010 to 2020. We discuss opportunitiesand challenges for the field of statistics in this new era.33.1 IntroductionThe past few years witnessed the beginning of a new era in financial marketsand in the US health care system. In March 2010, landmark health care reformwas passed through two federal statutes: the Patient Protection and AffordableCare Act and subsequently amended by the Health Care and EducationReconciliation Act. A few months later, the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reformand Consumer Protection Act was signed into federal law on July 21, 2010,in response to widespread calls for regulatory reform following the 2007–08financial crisis. Since this year marks the 50th anniversary of the COPSS, itseems timely to discuss how statistical science can help address the challengesof this new era for finance and health care and to suggest some outreachopportunities for the field of statistics.We begin with health care in Section 33.2. One of the provisions of the PatientProtection and Affordable Care Act is the establishment of a non-profitPatient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute to undertake comparative effectivenessresearch (CER), examining the “relative health outcomes, clinicaleffectiveness, and appropriateness” of different medical treatments. This involvesthe design of comparative studies of the treatments and their statisticalanalysis, and Section 33.2 discusses the limitations of standard study designswhen applied to CER and describes some innovative designs for compara-369