The role of evidence in health policy making: a normative perspective.

Full Abstract

Assessment of evidence is becoming a central part of health policy decisions--not least in limit setting decisions. Limit-setting decisions can be defined as the withholding of potentially beneficial health care. This article seeks to explore the value choices related to the use of evidence in limit-setting decisions at the political level. To better specify the important but restricted role of evidence in such decisions, the value choices of relevance are discussed explicitly. Four criteria are often considered when setting limits:
1. The severity of disease if untreated or treated by standard care 2. The effectiveness of the new technology 3. The cost-effectiveness of the new technology 4. The quality of evidence on (1)-(3) The production and assessment of evidence is important for each criterion, but several points are identified where the practice of evidence-based medicine could be further developed to capture a broader spectrum of ethical and political concerns that such decisions naturally evoke among citizens.

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Author information

Author/s: Norheim, Ole Frithjof (OF);

Affiliation: Section for Medical Ethics and Philosophy of Science, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway. ole.norheim@isf.uib.no

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Comment; Journal Article

Journal: Health care analysis : HCA : journal of health philosophy and policy (Health Care Anal), published in England. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2002-; vol 10 (issue 3) : pp 309-17

Dates: Created 2003/05/28; Completed 2003/08/29; Revised 2004/11/17;

PMID: 12769418, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

Comments and Corrections

CommentOn: Health Care Anal. 2002;10(3):243-59. (PMID: 12769413)

CommentOn: Health Care Anal. 2002;10(3):261-75. (PMID: 12769414)

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