How good is good enough? Standards in policy decisions to cover new health technologies.

Abstract

Health technology coverage decisions require reasonable criteria, for example, the requirement that a technology be effective, efficient, legitimate in purpose, acceptable in its effects, safe and so on. The leap from such criteria to decisions requires not only evidence, but also standards. Decision-makers must specify their values, which apply in general, regarding what is "good enough" before they can judge any technology in particular. This …