Solutions to some of the nation’s most pressing health policy problems hinge on the ability to identify which diagnostic, treatment, and prevention services work best for various patients and circumstances. Spending on ineffective care contributes to rising health costs and insurance premiums. Variations in how health care providers treat the same conditions reflect uncertainty and disagreement about what clinical practice standards should be. Patients and insurers cannot always be confident that health professionals are delivering the most effective care.

A new Institute of Medicine report, Knowing What Works in Health Care: A Roadmap for the Nation, provides a blueprint for a national program to assess the effectiveness of clinical services and to provide credible, unbiased information about what really works in health care. The report recommends that Congress direct the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to establish a program with the authority, expertise and resources necessary to set priorities for evaluating clinical services and to conduct systematic reviews of the evidence. The program would also develop and promote rigorous standards for creating clinical practice guidelines, which could help minimize use of questionable services and target services to the patients most likely to benefit.