Reviews and Notes: Policy: Evaluating the Medical Care System: Effectiveness, Efficiency and Equity

Evaluating the Medical Care System: Effectiveness, Efficiency and Equity

Lu Ann Aday, Charles E. Begley, David R. Lairson and Carl H. Slater. 222 pages. Ann Arbor: Health Administration Pr; 1994. $32.00.

Three professors of management and policy sciences and one physician who is Associate Professor of Health Services Organization at the University of Texas School of Public Health are the authors. Their book was written using "concepts and methods of epidemiology, economics, sociology, and other disciplines." It is intended to explicate the "measurement, relevance of the effectiveness, efficiency, and equity criteria" in the evaluation of the performance of the current health care system. The 9 chapters include "Introduction to Health Services Research and Policy Analysis," "Effectiveness: Concepts and Methods," and "Equity of Access: Evidence and an Application." There are figures and tables. Factoid: Thirty percent of nonfederal physicians now work in group practices; 10.6% did so in 1965. The topics are relevant to our brave new world, and physicians unfamiliar with these methods will learn much from this small book even if they do not enjoy it.