The only certainty in health care is uncertainty

This post Larry sent around via email yesterday is related to Tim's recent post regarding

recent challenges as to whether cholesterol plays a key role in heart disease.

The only thing that is virtually certain in health care these days is that costs are way up, quality is down, and that diagnostic uncertainty is everywhere. In listening to the political debates in recent weeks, it is apparent that candidates on all sides of the political spectrum have grasped the notion that our health care system is too expensive. What we don't hear much about is the quality chasm or the huge conflicts of interest that exist in Big Pharma and medical device industry serving only to increase profits and drive up costs for drugs and diagnostinc testing that in many instances causes more harm than good. I don't pretend to hold all the answer for our health care system's crisis, but I am fairly certain that the optimism for a system that completely sources medical decision-making to the "patient-doctor relationship" is probably not justified if past performance is any prediction of the future.

This quote from Niko Karvounis on the Health Beat Blog sums it up well:

"We need to remember that, no matter what we are promised, uncertainty is ubiquitous in medicine. Patients don’t always want to hear this. They trust in medical professionals. They trust in procedures. They trust in the capacity of innovation to make their lives better. And they should—but for our health care system to work, those in whom we trust must be committed to efficacy rather than innovation for its own sake. The focus needs to be on what should be done, rather than what can be done. The two are not the same, no matter what medical prognosticators would have you believe."

John