The federal government and medical technology: Crossing policy and management thresholds

✍ Scribed by Richrad A. Rettig

• Book ID: 104636103
• Publisher: Springer US
• Year: 1980
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 945 KB
• Volume: 11
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0032-2687
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00136004

✦ Synopsis

This paper reviews the changes in federal government involvement in medical technology in the past decade, from prior reliance upon non-governmental decision-making about development, diffusion, and use, to increasingly centralized decision-making. The case of end-stage renal disease offers contrasts between the past and present. The cases of Karen Ann Quinlan and CT scanning indicate the source of present scepticism about benefits and costs of medical technology. Current federal involvement in medical technology decision-making, through health planning, medical device regulation, and increased formal analysis of safety, effectiveness, and cost-effectiveness, is described. Though increased federal involvement in medical technology stems from a desire to compensate for failures of the medical marketplace, the immediate effect is to place greater decision-making reliance upon formal analysis, bureaucracy, legal procedure, and politics. It is unclear whether the result of increased federal involvement will produce beneficial outcomes.