In a highly anticipated report, released Tuesday morning, a panel assembled by the Institute of Medicine released a list of 100 health topics that it said should get high priority as the Obama administration spends $1.1 billion in comparing the effectiveness of competing drugs, medical devices, surgeries and other treatments for specific medical conditions.

The panel, under the umbrella of the National Academies of Sciences, was convened at the request of Congress. The recommendations are expected to influence how the federal Department of Health and Human Services spends its $400 million share of the comparative effectiveness funds.

Other federal agencies that received federal money to conduct comparative effective reviews are the National Institutes of Health and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

Other areas identified as high-priority topics included reviewing various strategies and techniques to reduce certain types of in-hospital infections.