Tyrannized by evidence? Making 'outcomes' work for our patients

The high cost of modern medicine has helped shape our social, political, and practice agendas for years, and we now have a managed care system strongly focused on cost containment. Thirty percent of people over age 16 report morbidity or use of the healthcare system for musculoskeletal conditions, 20% of which are chronic.(1) And they are expensive, costing about $126 billion annually.(2) Consequently, musculoskeletal-related costs are a prime target for containment, and since primary care and sports medicine physicians treat many patients who have these problems so is our practice.