New Medical Missions For National Laboratories

Medical costs in the U.S. today represent about 13% of the gross domestic product; for the year 2000, the estimate is a 20% impact on the U.S. economy. The Clinton Administration has singled out health care as a top priority issue that needs near-term resolution to help avoid a severe economic problem. The DOE national defense laboratories can propose a bold and comprehensive medical initiative for which high technology leads to greatly lowered medical costs for the general public and which we define here as Center for Advanced and Cost-Effective flealth-Care Technologies (CACHET). CACHET would feature minimally invasive, therapeutic and diagnostic medical procedures that eliminate lengthy and costly hospitalizations. These procedures should provide a heightened level of medical care and minimal lost job time. The currently popular endoscopic procedures and their derivatives are but the first salvos in a long-term battle to use high technology to provide routine cost-effective and enhanced health care treatments.