DECISION-ANALYSIS - BALANCING QUALITY AND COST

Healthcare reform is a topic consuming the time and energy of many hea lthcare professionals, administrators, and politicians. One goal of re form is to improve value-better quality health care for less cost. Unf ortunately, much of the current debate proceeds without. clear definit ions of quality or cost. To have profitable discussion, we must have p recise definitions. With these definitions in hand, the technique of d ecision analysis provides a unique opportunity to evaluate quality and costs of healthcare decisions simultaneously. We believe it is impera tive for physicians to become familiar with this important and powerfu l tool.