Toward the development of a technology assessment methodology in medical diagnosis and therapy.

Existing priorities for the provision of health care are increasingly seen to be arbitrary and inequitable. The informed public in developed countries is demanding a rational, consistent and responsible program for the apportioning of health resources, both in their own and in Third World nations. An evaluation methodology is proposed for measuring the main aspects of a nation's health. It is based on a flowchart of averaged, relative, weighted, multiple parameters, each comprised of the elements of technology. It is designed as an objective system--superseding former weighting processes, which were influenced by ambition, prestige, prejudice and narrow politics--and has sufficient flexibility to accommodate both the anticipated and the unforeseen.