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The Appropriateness of the Use of Cardiovascular Procedures: British Versus U.S. Perspectives

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 March 2009

Steven J. Bernstein
Affiliation:
University of California, Los Angeles
Jacqueline Kosecoff
Affiliation:
Value Health Sciences, Inc., Santa Monica
David Gray
Affiliation:
Value Health Sciences, Inc., Santa Monica
John R. Hampton
Affiliation:
University Hospital, Nottingham
Robert H. Brook
Affiliation:
RAND Corporation

Abstract

To determine whether patients are less likely to receive an inappropriate procedure in countries that devote fewer resources to health care than does the United States, we studied how appropriately coronary angiography and coronary artery bypass surgery were performed in the Trent region of the United Kingdom. The medical records of 320 patients who underwent coronary angiography and 319 who underwent coronary artery bypass surgery in 1987 and 1988 were randomly selected for review. Despite the United Kingdom's more limited use of coronary angiography and coronary artery bypass surgery, a substantial proportion were still performed for less than appropriate reasons, by both U.S. and U.K. criteria. Merely reducing the rate of use of these procedures will not be sufficient to eliminate such inappropriate use.

Type
General Essays
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

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