The public outcry to “do something” about health care spending keeps growing, but fear about what that might entail stymies action. Americans need affordable, accessible, and innovative health care. They don’t need rationing of treatments or a regime of price controls that could hobble medical progress.
Finding policy solutions — and building support for them — is a formidable task. An important first step that can be taken without risking heavy-handed intervention is for Congress to establish an independent Institute of Health Technology Assessment.
This is an interesting proposal but it’s far from novel. The UK was the first to set up such an institution, NICE, National Institute for Clinical Excellence, and many European countries have followed suit. It has been an important means to address drug pricing and reimbursement questions and ensure value added for patients. Your article should have acknowledged these previous efforts. That’s good professional and scientific practice.