Around the world rising health spending is rapidly consuming the budgets of governments, employers and households, driven by a combination of the growing burden of chronic diseases, rising patient expectations and ever-more expensive medical technologies.

Remarkably, much of this massive spending occurs purely on blind faith in the efficacy of the product purchased. According to a recent study reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association, for example, just 11 per cent of the more than 2,700 recommendations approved by cardiologists for treating heart patients are supported by highlevel scientific evidence. The rest are based mostly on “expert opinions”. An earlier study published in the British Medical Journal noted that just 13 per cent of medical treatments are unambiguously known to be beneficial, while 48 per cent are of unknown effectiveness.