Clinical decision making: from theory to practice. Benefit language: criteria that will improve quality while reducing costs

Ethical problems arising in evidence based complementary and alternative medicine: Table 1

“…21 Governments and other funding bodies usually allocate health resources on the basis of existing evidence. 22 Because the evidence for CAM is fragmentary and evolving, research applications in CAM-other than to government agencies specifically created to fund CAM research, such as the (rather unique) National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) at the NIH in the US-have a lower chance of receiving funding than those in conventional medicine. This situation creates a systemic bias, which results in allocation of resources to those areas of (conventional) medicine for which reasonably good evidence already exists.…”

Personal paper: Ethics and evidence based medicine

“…Eddy has suggested that healthcare funds should be required to cover interventions only if there is sufficient evidence that they can be expected to produce their intended effects 27. The Australian health minister, Dr Michael Wooldridge, who is a strong supporter of evidence based medicine, has adopted a similar position, stating “[we will] pay only for those operations, drugs and treatments that according to available evidence are proved to work.”26…”

Public Health Services and Cost-Effectiveness Analysis

“…Many organizations in the United States followed the lead of BC/BS, including the Medicare program (60), health maintenance organizations, and private insurance companies (59). Analyzing the U.S. experience, as expressed in a consensus meeting of insurers, Eddy (24,25) observed that it was appropriate for a health plan to try to limit services provided. However, he added, clear and simple language was key so that both parties would know their rights and responsibilities.…”