Economics and Medical Practice

Medical Economics (and Politics)

G et ready! The landscape in medicine is probably going to change rapidly. The starting bell rang in December 2010 in Washington, DC, with very little fanfare when the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned doctors from prescribing Avastin to patients with advanced-stage breast cancer. 1 Avastin, a potent but costly drug, has worked in some clinical trials by halting the spread of cancer and...

Topics in medical economics: medical malpractice.

Medical economics and medical ethics: points of conflict and reconciliation.

I refer to the transformation of the valid economic necessity to contain costs into an ideology a self-justifying principle that threatens to assume quasi-moral stature. One consequence is the self-righteous pursuit of economic goals that may obscure our obligations to the sick. Another is the commercialization of the healing relationship by the growing pressure to use competition as a cost con...

Map Generalization: Theory, Practice and Economics

The theory of map generalization is discussed with particular reference to the processes of simplification and classification. Both of these processes are used extensively in computer-assisted cartography; however, a comprehensive, flexible software package has not yet been organized from the myriad of algorithms available. Further, systematic use of algorithms, based on the reasons for general...

Practice guidelines: role of economics and physicians.