title: Toward the development of a technology assessment methodology in medical diagnosis and therapy.
abstract: Existing priorities for the provision of health care are increasingly seen to be arbitrary and inequitable. The informed public in developed countries is demanding a rational, consistent and responsible program for the apportioning of health resources, both in their own and in Third World nations. An evaluation methodology is proposed for measuring the main aspects of a nation's health. It is based on a flowchart of averaged, relative, weighted, multiple parameters, each comprised of the elements of technology. It is designed as an objective system--superseding former weighting processes, which were influenced by ambition, prestige, prejudice and narrow politics--and has sufficient flexibility to accommodate both the anticipated and the unforeseen.
mesh_terms: D006292:Health Priorities; D006295:Health Resources / Q000191:economics; D013673:Technology Assessment, Biomedical / Q000379:methods*; D013675:Technology, High-Cost