Opinion Piece Calls For Evidence-Based Approach To Health Care, Citing Success In Baseball

Main Category: Primary Care / General Practice
Also Included In: Public Health
Article Date: 27 Oct 2008 - 11:00 PDT

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"In the past decade, baseball has experienced a data-driven information revolution" that has allowed teams to succeed while spending less on payroll, and the U.S.' "overpriced, underperforming health care system needs a similar revolution," according to a New York Times opinion piece by Newt Gingrich, former House Speaker and founder of the Center for Health Transformation; Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.); and Oakland Athletics General Manager Billy Beane. The authors continue, "Remarkably, a doctor today can get more data on the starting third baseman on his fantasy baseball team than on the effectiveness of life-and-death medical procedures."

Research shows that "most health care is not based on clinical studies of what works best and what does not," but on a "romantic approach" founded in "informed opinion, personal observation or tradition," they write, adding, "It is no surprise then that the U.S. spends more than twice as much per capita on health care compared to almost every other country in the world." According to the authors, "Evidence-based health care would not strip doctors of their decision-making authority nor replace their expertise"; rather, "data and evidence should complement a lifetime of experience, so that doctors can deliver the best quality care at the lowest possible cost." They write, "Working closely with doctors, the federal government and the private sector should create a new institute for evidence-based medicine" to conduct research and "review the existing medical literature" to "help inform our nation's overstretched medical providers."

According to the authors, "America's health care system behaves like a hidebound, tradition-based ball club that chases after aging sluggers and plays by the old rules: we pay too much and get too little in return." They conclude that "we should learn from ... new evidence-based methods" because the "best way to start improving quality and lowering costs is to study the stats" (Beane et al., New York Times, 10/24).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.

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