Project Categories
Inadequate Medical Evidence: Political Incentives and the Prospects for Sustainable Reform
Award Year: 2008 Investigator: Alan Gerber, Eric PatashnikThe effectiveness of many medical treatments and procedures remains unknown, despite concerns that the United States spends too much on ineffective care. Why has the federal government invested so very little in rigorous effectiveness research up to now? Co-PIs Alan S. Gerber, Ph.D. and Eric M. Patashnik, Ph.D., M.P.P. believe that the answer lies in the incentives built into our political system.
Categories:
Curbing the Use of Medical Imaging: Searching for Efficient Technology Utilization in a Fee-for-Service World
Award Year: 2007 Investigator: Frank LevyHigh-tech diagnostic imaging equipment is now available in hospitals, imaging centers, large multi-specialty group practices, and more types of doctors' offices than ever before. While this has made things easier for physicians and patients, it has also produced rapid growth in medical expenditures for scans and contributed to the overall rise in U.S. health care spending.
Categories:
Improving the Evidence Base for Invasive Therapeutic Procedures
Award Year: 2007 Investigator: Carol Ashton, Nelda WrayDespite the American fascination with high-tech medicine, new treatments don't always deliver desired cures or improvements. While pharmaceutical products must be rigorously tested and approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration before going to market, any surgeon or interventionist can provide a new therapeutic procedure without valid scientific proof of its effectiveness.
Categories:
The Rise and Fall of Cardiac Revascularization: Therapeutic Evolution and Health Policy in the Late Twentieth Century
Award Year: 2007 Investigator: David JonesOver the last 15 to 20 years, evidence-based medicine and clinical practice guidelines have been embraced as ways to rationalize medical decisions about how to treat patients. But the results so far have been mixed, as the treatment of coronary artery disease (CAD) demonstrates.
Categories: