Does Oversight Threaten the Doctor-Patient Bond?
March 2, 2009
The most recent debate in health care reform has centered on the $1.1 billion set aside in the economic stimulus bill to compare the effectiveness of different treatments for the same illness.
Supporters of the provision believe that such “comparative effectiveness†research will help to identify ineffective therapy, improve quality of care and ultimately decrease the time and effort, not to mention the dollars, spent on treatments that don’t work well.
But critics warn that such research could ultimately lead to a one-treatment-fits-all approach and that the government could become an unwelcome third party, dictating “appropriate†decisions in the doctor-patient relationship. (New York Times)
