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The Department of Health and Human Services plans to develop a national inventory of research on the treatments and medical interventions that are most effective for patients.

The collection of comparative effectiveness research and information will be available through a searchable online tool to physicians, policymakers and the public.

The inventory will be a "living document" by providing access for interested individuals and organizations and enabling a method for updating the research and identifying priorities for future research, HHS said in the announcement.

The inventory will include research records, such as abstracts and other summary descriptions, resources on methods and training for comparative effectiveness research, data infrastructure and databases to support the research.

Comparative effectiveness research compares the benefits and drawbacks of different actions to prevent, diagnose, treat and monitor health conditions. The aim of the research is to improve health outcomes by developing and circulating evidenced-based information to patients and clinicians about which treatment methods are most valuable.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provided $1.1 billion for development of comparative effectiveness research.

HHS seeks suggestions by Aug. 9 about sources of the research, methods to encourage participation in it and how to categorize the volumes of information.