The New Technology Assessment

Abstract

The authors of this Sounding Board article discuss how the new approach to assessment of biomedical technologies that incorporates considerations of effectiveness, patient preferences, and costs, differs from the old approach to evaluating medical innovation with its emphasis on efficacy and safety. Fuchs and Garber explain what is new about technology assessment, how technology assessment in medicine differs from that in other industries, what makes a good assessment, and the usual stages and timing of an assessment. They also discuss what technology assessment can and cannot do, particularly its inability to provide a simple answer to the question of whether a particular medical intervention is worthwhile. Fuchs and Garber caution physicians against rejecting technology assessment out of hand and payers against relying on assessment to reduce health care costs without taking into account incentives that often promote unnecessary and inefficient health care practices. (KIE abstract)