RCTs and the federal government

As the federal government's role in health policy has grown, its involvement in the development, adoption, and use of medical technology has grown concomitantly. The government now makes a wide variety of decisions concerning technology. Many of these decisions involve randomized clinical trials (RCTs). The federal government probably funds or requires a majority of the RCTs carried out in the United States. The federal government also uses the results of RCTs increasingly as an important basis for its decisions, especially within the Medicare program. As the scientific basis for medical practice has improved through use of the RCT, policy decisions have been put on a firmer base.