Author Description

This insightful study describes how ten European countries set policy and use financing, planning, and other regulatory mechanisms in implementing expensive medical technology and procedures in their health care systems. The individual country reports presented here are based upon an EEC workshop at which high technology mechanisms--such as computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, lithotripsy, and radiotherapy--were analyzed, and which resulted in many recommendations for European countries individually and collectively. The contributors' assessment of European health technology addresses a broad, general concern about the critical influence of new technology on the cost and effectiveness of health care. The first available work to explore health technology regulation across Europe, and an essential reference for health care professionals, academics, and administrators.