Treatment Scores Solve Problems

Dr. Kit Byatt and Sarah Chapman recently published an article titled, "Being patient with EBM. 'Just because we can, doesn’t mean we should' – supporting informed decision-making." 

It's an excellent article about what patients, doctors, and healthcare journalists need, so let's offer a solution.


The authors want certain things when it comes to medical information. They see problems. To quote from them:

  • "Offer people information about their absolute risk of...absolute benefits and harms of an intervention...."

"This information should be in a form that:

  • "presents individualised risk and benefit scenarios and
  • "presents the absolute risk of events numerically and
  • "uses appropriate diagrams and text."

Treatment Scores solve the problems listed in this article. The Treatment Score = the net treatment benefit for the patient. 

Furthermore, the Treatment Score = the net treatment benefit for the patient using evidence-based medicine guidelines and shared decision-making. In other words, Treatment Scores make the medical literature simple and understandable for patients, doctors, and healthcare reporters using absolute outcome measures. Treatment Scores also allow for the values and preferences of patients to be taken into account.

What patients need, and what physicians and healthcare journalists need to report is a list of treatments with Treatment Scores for every disease. Treatment Scores would be the starting point for shared decision-making because of the chain of visual aids behind them that make them clear, understandable, and adaptable to patient input.

REFERENCE:
Kit Byatt and Sarah Chapman. "Being patient with EBM. 'Just because we can, doesn’t mean we should' – supporting informed decision-making." Evidently Cochrane. April 26, 2018.
http://www.evidentlycochrane.net/being-patient-with-ebm-supporting-informed-decision-making/

DISCLAIMERS:
You must consult your own licensed physician, or other licensed medical professional, for diagnosis, treatment, and for the interpretation of all medical statistics including Treatment Scores. Treatment Scores are for informational purposes only. Treatment Scores may be incomplete, inaccurate, harmful, or even cause death if used for treatment instead of consulting a licensed medical professional. No medical advice is being given. We DO NOT CLAIM to cure, treat, or prevent any illness or condition. Nor do our services provide medical advice or constitute a physician patient relationship. Contact a physician or other medical professional if you suspect that you are ill. Call emergency services (call 911 if available) or go to the nearest emergency room if an emergency is suspected. We are not responsible for any delays in care from using our website, our services, or for any other reason. We are not responsible for any consequential damages of any nature whatsoever. We make no warranties of any kind in connection with our writings or the use of TreatmentScoresBlog.com or TreatmentScores.com. Treatment Scores are about what happened to patients studied in the past; they do not predict the future.

COPYRIGHT:
Copyright © 2018 Treatment Scores, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

What is the Treatment Score for that?

Whenever you are undergoing a medical treatment, you need to ask, "What is the Treatment Score for that?

The Treatment Score = the net treatment benefit for the patient. The higher the Treatment Score the better the treatment effect for patients as summarized from the medical literature.

Undertreatment and overtreatment occur because we don't know the Treatment Scores for anything. Runaway healthcare costs are happening because we don't know the Treatment Scores. If you undergo a treatment, does the medical literature suggest that patients will live only 2.6 weeks longer or 10 years longer? What is the cost/benefit for you? Knowledge is power.

Does a new treatment have a Treatment Score of 95% in terms of curing a disease, but you don't even know about it?


Importantly, the Treatment Score = the net treatment benefit for the patient (with the patients' values and preferences included). Treatment Scores allow for value-based healthcare to actually happen.

Got cancer? What is the Treatment Score for your suggested chemotherapy?

Got Alzheimer's disease? What are the Treatment Scores for Aricept, Namenda, Depakote, Zoloft, and Mobic? These are all medications that someone with Alzheimer's might be given.

Got insomnia? There are 130 treatments. What are the Treatment Scores for each and every one of those Treatments?

Have you ever wondered why you are not given this simple number, "the net treatment benefit," for any medical treatment (especially when it is life and death important)? Why is it that we can figure out "gross income" and "net income" every year, but we cannot figure out "gross treatment benefit" and "net treatment benefit" for patients? Answer: It's because the math is difficult.

Treatment Scores solve these problems:

  1. Health illiteracy, because Treatment Scores are simple to understand.
  2. Runaway healthcare costs. We cut healthcare costs by creating treatment transparency for all medical treatments. Treatment Scores are the starting point for evidence-based medicine with shared decision-making.
  3. Lack of time. We save doctors, patients, nurses, insurers, and governments time because we digest the medical literature down to one number.

DISCLAIMER: Always see your own licensed medical physician for diagnosis and treatment. Treatment Scores are for informational purposes only.