GOP DOCTORS' CAUCUS

Evidence-Based Medicine

A February 2008 report by the New England Healthcare Institute found that in a $2.4 trillion healthcare system, nearly $800 billion is wasted or misused. Unexplained variation in the intensity of medical and surgical services, including but not limited to back surgery, overuse of coronary artery bypass surgery, etc. add up to avoidable costs of $600 billion. Over 150 medical specialty academies and colleges — from family doctors to cardiologists — write clinical guidelines for their members to follow. If doctors closely adhered to these standards of evidence-based medicine, that waste could be removed from the system.  To ensure healthcare decisions are made by doctors and patients, any government issued guidelines should be based on the clinical standards and protocols published by the medical specialty societies.