Evaluating medical effectiveness for the california health benefits review program.

An important aspect of the mandate assessments requested by the California legislature is a review of the scientific and medical literature on the medical effectiveness of the proposed health insurance benefit mandate. Although such a review bears many similarities to effectiveness reviews that might be undertaken for publication as research studies, several important differences arise from the requirements of the California legislation. Our reviews are intended to assist the legislators in deciding whether to support a specific mandate to modify health insurance benefits in a particular way.

Adoption of liquid-based cervical cancer screening tests by family physicians and gynecologists.

Objective: To examine reasons for the adoption of liquid-based cervical cancer screening tests.

Data Sources/study Setting: A mailed survey of 250 family physicians and 250 gynecologists in Maryland in 2000. Additional data were obtained from the AMA Master File of Physicians.