Evidence-Based Health Policy

In these times of heated rhetoric about what various health care reforms can and cannot accomplish, both hopeful and doomsday stories abound. Proponents and opponents of reforms often claim that their views are grounded in evidence, but it’s not always clear what they mean by that — particularly given the wide range of often incompatible views. Voters, physicians, and policymakers are left to wade through a jumble of anecdotes, aspirations, associations, and well-designed studies as they try to evaluate policy alternatives. Having a clear framework for characterizing what is, and isn’t, evidence-based health policy (EBHP) is a prerequisite for a rational approach to making policy choices, and it may even help focus the debate on the most promising approaches.