[Unused knowledge? A useful result of research from the funded Investigative Medicine program].

Many policy-makers believe that the translation of research findings into daily practice is poor. Examples of projects from the research programme 'Investigative medicine' over the period 1990-1995 show that this opinion is not correct. Findings from medical technology assessments that focus on clinical decision making were usually translated into clinical practice very quickly, sometimes even before clinical guidelines had been produced or revised. In almost all cases, the formulation of governance policies concerning the financing and distribution of medical services and interventions required considerably more time.