Effective Health Care bulletins: are they efficient?

managers and clinicians in purchasing and providing healthcare services."' In this paper we question the extent to which the information in such bulletins will aid clinicians and managers in making decisions about the efficient allocation of scarce healthcare resources, and we suggest improvements to the bulletins such that they can become a better tool for helping healthcare purchasers set priorities and place contracts. The first section comprises an overview of the bulletins and examines the three criteria that the effective health care team producing the bulletins propose as aids to managers and clinicians involved in purchasing and providing in the NHS: clinical effectiveness, cost effectiveness, and acceptability. A fourth criterion is also examined. This criterion is implicitly recognised by the team as being important for identifying topics for bulletins and purchasing decisions: burden (or cost) of illness considerations. The team recommend alternative interventions for purchasers to consider. The basis on which these alternatives