Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
The proceedings presented her summarize the fourth in a series of Institute of Medicine workshops whose intent is to critically examine medical innovation--that is, the process by which scientific and technological findings are translated into actual benefits in clinical practice.
Synopsis
What information and decisionmaking processes determine how and whether an experimental medical technology becomes accepted and used?
Adopting New Medical Technology reviews the strengths and weaknesses of present coverage and adoption practices, highlights opportunities for improving both the decisionmaking processes and the underlying information base, and considers approaches to instituting a much-needed increase in financial support for evaluative research.
Essays explore the nature of technological change; the use of technology assessment in decisions by health care providers and federal, for-profit, and not-for-profit payers; the role of the courts in determining benefits coverage; strengthening the connections between evaluative research and coverage decisionmaking; manufacturers' responses to the increased demand for outcomes research; and the implications of health care reform for technology policy.