title: Evidence, appropriateness, and technology assessment in cardiology: a case study of computed tomography.
abstract: As the volume, complexity, and cost of new medical technology increase, the need for evaluating benefits and risks becomes increasingly important. Once the formal requirements for Food and Drug Administration approval and insurance coverage are met, however, few systematic criteria are applied to ensure patient benefit. A more systematic policy approach regarding new technologies is needed, with input from balanced groups reviewing evidence of clinical outcomes data to determine patient benefit. This paper examines cardiac computed tomography angiography as a case study; it proposes procedures designed to ensure that the benefits of new technologies justify their costs.
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiology at the University of California, San Francisco, USA. redberg@medicine.ucsf.edu
authors.forename: Rita F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Redberg
mesh_terms: D000792:Angiography / Q000191:economics*; D002309:Cardiology / Q000191:economics / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000592:standards; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D003659:Decision Making, Organizational; D018795:Device Approval; D004059:Diffusion of Innovation; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D006801:Humans; D019458:Insurance Coverage; D019982:Organizational Case Studies; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D012941:Social Responsibility; D013673:Technology Assessment, Biomedical / Q000191:economics*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000191:economics*; D014481:United States; D014486:United States Food and Drug Administration