The case for reassessment of health care technology. Once is not enough
Banta, H.D.; Thacker, S.B.
JAMA 264(2): 235-240
1990
ISSN/ISBN: 0098-7484 PMID: 2355445 Document Number: 352598
The authors emphasize the need to consider continuous reassessment of health care technologies already in use in the face of rising health care costs and of questions about quality and effectiveness. Among the issues covered by Banta and Thacker are the definition and history of technology assessment, the life cycle of a health care technology, and examples of attempts at technology reassessment. They make a case for reassessing four technologies currently in use: electronic fetal monitoring, episiotomy, electroencephalography, and hysterectomy. These technologies are offered as examples of technologies already in place whose introduction into health care was preceded by an initial, nonsystematic assessment. Technologies that are being applied in ways for which they were not intended originally are also candidates for reevaluation and reassessment.