For debate--Does health care save lives?

Does Health Care save Lives? Avoidable Mortality Revisited

Cancer Care in Developing Countries: Does Early Detection Truly Save Lives?

Background:“Early detection save lives” is a common and almost universal slogan for promoting cancer screening world-wide. Doubtlessly, early detection of cancer can save lives when the detection is followed with appropriate interventions. Conversely, when early detection is not followed with appropriate intervention(s), then it becomes effort in futility. Therefore, we are advocating that the ...

A model for a smallpox-vaccination policy.

BACKGROUND The new reality of biologic terrorism and warfare has ignited a debate about whether to reintroduce smallpox vaccination. METHODS We developed scenarios of smallpox attacks and built a stochastic model of outcomes under various control policies. We conducted a systematic literature review and estimated model parameters on the basis of European and North American outbreaks since Wor...

Greater use of preventive services in U.S. health care could save lives at little or no cost.

There is broad debate over whether preventive health services save money or represent a good investment. This paper analyzes the estimated cost of adopting a package of twenty proven preventive services--including tobacco cessation screening, alcohol abuse screening, and daily aspirin use--against the estimated savings that could be generated. We find that greater use of proven clinical prevent...

An NTSB for health care: learning from innovation: debate and innovate or capitulate.

INTRODUCTION Economic and medical risks threaten the national security of America. The spiraling costs of United States' avoidable healthcare harm and waste far exceed those of any other nation. This 2-part paper, written by a group of aviators, is a national call to action to adopt readily available and transferable safety innovations we have already paid for that have made the airline industr...