U.S. to Compare Medical Treatments - part of Stimulus Package

[groovedaddy]

WASHINGTON — The $787 billion economic stimulus bill approved by Congress will, for the first time, provide substantial amounts of money for the federal government to compare the effectiveness of different treatments for the same illness.

Under the legislation, researchers will receive $1.1 billion to compare drugs, medical devices, surgery and other ways of treating specific conditions. The bill creates a council of up to 15 federal employees to coordinate the research and to advise President Obama and Congress on how to spend the money.

The program responds to a growing concern that doctors have little or no solid evidence of the value of many treatments. Supporters of the research hope it will eventually save money by discouraging the use of costly, ineffective treatments.

The soaring cost of health care is widely seen as a problem for the economy. Spending on health care totaled $2.2 trillion, or 16 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product, in 2007, and the Congressional Budget Office estimates that, without any changes in federal law, it will rise to 25 percent of the G.D.P. in 2025.

Dr. Elliott S. Fisher of Dartmouth Medical School said the federal effort would help researchers try to answer questions like these:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/16/health/policy/16health.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

[NC_Nurse]

1. I'm sure a lot of people will worry that this will be bad for their healthcare,

but from personal experience I can tell you that there are a LOT of dubious surgeries done in this country.
Surgeons don't make money unless they do surgery, so they are motivated to push surgery over other treatments.
The same is true of some other specialties.

There was a study done several years ago which showed that knee scopes for osteoarthritis were NO more effective than placebo (they actually did fake surgeries on the control group).
Amazingly, people still get them frequently. Many back surgeries are ineffective or even worsen the patient's condition. Some people go back for multiple back surgeries and
never get relief from their chronic pain.

I know there have been studies showing lots of unnecessary hysterectomies and c-sections too. Not only is this detrimental to the health of the patient, it's QUITE expensive.