In collaboration with clinicians at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), RAND Heath staff developed the RAND/UCLA Appropriateness Method to synthesize the scientific literature and expert opinion on health care topics.
This method, which has become a leading paradigm for quality assessment in medicine, is a mechanism for reaching formal agreement about how science should be interpreted in the real world. It makes it possible to set rules for determining best practices-guidelines that, when implemented, increase the value of health care dollars spent because they increase the probability that the care delivered will contribute to improved health of the population.
This manual presents step-by-step guidelines for conceptualising, designing, and carrying out a study of the appropriateness of medical or surgical procedures (for either diagnosis or treatment) using the RAND/UCLA Appropriateness Method.
Annotated bibliography (through 1999) which gives an overview of articles published or brought to attention that are directly or indirectly related to the RAND Appropriateness Method for measuring the appropriateness of medical care.
