Weighing the benefits and costs of medical technologies

Technological advances enhance our ability to prevent, diagnose, and treat disease, and to administer medical care. But every medical technology that is technically feasible need not be developed. Technologies have been disseminated that are not acceptably safe, efficacious, or cost-effective, or that have indirect, unanticipated effects on the medical care system or on society in general. Because of these effects, and because our resources are limited, we need to be much more selective about which medical technologies to develop or use than we have been. However, methods for assessing the benefits and costs of medical technology, which could help us to make these choices, are themselves poorly developed and little used. Results of more rigorous assessments could supplement political and economic considerations, and thereby contribute to a rational decision-making process.