Djulbegovic, Benjamin wrote:
> As some of you may know, there is currently intensive debate in the US
> related to mandating CER (comparative effectiveness research) program to
> inform health policy-making. One of the premises that is frequently used
> to justify introduction of the CER is claim that 30% of health care
> interventions are ineffective or that 30% of health dollars are wasteful
> (I saw/heard both statements). I am trying to locate a source of these
> these claims. A couple references I found appear to refer to the famous
> Dartmouth Study on medical practice variation, but I could not exactly
> pinpoint data that support 30% claim (either in terms of $$$ spent or
> interventions inappropriately used ).
Very interesting responses you've gotten so far! For your amusement, you
may want to look at
Edzard Ernst. How Much of CAM is Based on Research Evidence? eCAM.
2009:nep044. Available at:
http://ecam.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/nep044v1.
The author found a number that was pretty small (7.4%) and then said
that because of biases in the methodology, even that number was probably
too large!
--
Steve Simon, Standard disclaimer.
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