Am J Cardiol. 2015 Aug 14. pii: S0002-9149(15)01781-6. doi: 10.1016/j.amjcard.2015.07.076. [Epub ahead of print]

Clinical Practice Guidelines as Instruments for Sound Health Care Priority Setting.

Lawler PR1, Norheim OF2.

Author information

• 1Cardiovascular Division, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts; Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts.
• 2Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts; Department of Global Public Health and Primary Care, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway.

Abstract

This editorial discusses the potential role that physician-authored clinical practice guidelines could play in health care priority setting decisions in the United States. We briefly review the challenges associated with increasingly obligate health care priority setting in the United States and discuss accountability for these decisions. We then propose a potential role for clinical practice guidelines in addressing these challenges, while considering the ethical foundations of such a proposal.