Article excerpt:
DOCTORS will today be urged to choose treatments that work best rather than those costing the most, amid government claims that 99 per cent of patients receiving artificial joints did not get the best types.
Health Minister Nicola Roxon will spearhead a push for more targeted use of health spending, telling doctors they have a "responsibility to be mindful of what the clinical evidence shows is effective" -- and that "current practice falls well short of that".
... "Rest assured, the Rudd government certainly does not want to intervene in clinical decision-making inappropriately. We need the professions to exercise leadership so that clinical practice is based on what is most effective and cost-effective."
