By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS Staff Journalist Last week, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that the first of what will be $1.1 billion of taxpayer money has been given to four research groups charged with setting up a network of the controversial "patient-centered outcomes research centers" that will determine the effectiveness of different medical treatments, which many believe will be used to ration care when ObamaCare gets underway in 2014. CNSNews.com is reporting that $17 million has been allotted to set up four research networks; three will focus on research related to primary care and a fourth will focus on the care and treatment of people with HIV/AIDS. When announcing the allotment of the money last week, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius reassured the public that the research will be used to "improve health outcomes" by developing "evidence-based information" about the effectiveness of different treatments. She claims the goal is to find out which therapies work best for whom, and in what circumstances. Originally known as "comparative effectiveness research," the concept drew heavy fire from opponents of ObamaCare last year, who said the centers could be used to deny care to individuals and interfere in the doctor-patient relationship by dictating to physicians what treatments can and cannot be offered to certain patients based on what the government is willing to pay for. “I think that is one of the primary concerns--that the government is going to have motivation to both study certain questions as well as interpret results in a certain way to try and affect policy goals,” Scott Gottlieb, resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, told CNSNews.com in June 2009. As a result of the criticism, the government changed the name of the centers to "patient-centered outcomes research centers" but the task of the centers remains the same.  The government continues to insist that doctors will be involved in the work and that the process will be completely transparent. CNS reports that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 authorized $1.1 billion for patient-centered outcomes research, to be split among three agencies, as follows: --  $300 million for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality --  $400 million for the National Institutes of Health, and --  $400 million for the Office of the Secretary of Health and Human Services © All Rights Reserved, Living His Life Abundantly®/Women of Grace®  http://www.womenofgrace.com