Authors' objectives:

To assess the status of the overall U. S. effort to identify which existing health care technologies and practices work better than others.

Authors' results and conclusions: The report covers the following areas: efforts to compare the relative effectiveness of current health care interventions--including research techniques and approaches and current gaps in the research effort--issues in cost-effectiveness/cost-utility analysis; U. S. trends in health technology assessment; and development and implementation of clinical practice guidelines.

Authors' recommendations: "Outcomes research" has made important contributions in describing practice and outcomes but is not usually a very good way to produce answers about comparative effectiveness. Opportunities to pursue these questions using more reliable methods have been inadequately explored and developed. Cost-effectiveness analysis is used with increasing frequency; efforts to develop standards to make analyses more comparable and usable deserve support.; Health technology assessments are increasingly produced in the private sector. Clinical practice guidelines are poorly coordinated and are developed using widely varying methods. The implications of different methods are very poorly studied or understood. Solid clinical evidence of effectiveness improves the ability to develop and implement practice guidelines and enhances their impact on practice. Other output or dissemination activity: The report's findings appear to have substantial influence on the activities of several federal agencies. Impact on Congress's funding decisions regarding the agencies and their activities is still unclear.

Project Status: Completed

URL for project: http://www.wws.princeton.edu:80/~ota/ns20/pubs_f.html

Year Published: 1994

English language abstract: An English language summary is available

Publication Type: Not Assigned

Country: United States

Organisation Name: U. S. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment

Copyright: Office of Technology Assessment