At its April 3rd meeting, the National Advisory Council of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality said that the cost of drugs and devices should be considered when researching comparative effectiveness, but cost should not be used to deny or limit coverage. The Council apparently wants to focus primarily on clinical outcomes and consider cost as a much less weighty factor. Apparently, AHRQ is too nice to be NICE.
1 comments:
In an ideal world, cost would not be a consideration. In the real world, where resources are limited, providing futile intensive treatment entails denying treatment to other patients who have real (and not theoretical) needs and who could receive a real benefit from such treatment.
It is, in my view, both unethical and irresponsible to ignore issues of distributive justice.
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