School of Medicine, Department of Family Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University, Fairfax, Virginia, USA. swoolf@vcu.edu
Limited resources make it impossible to deliver all healthcare services to all people. Therefore, it is vital for the nation to adopt rational methods for setting priorities. The work of the National Commission on Prevention Priorities takes such an approach in ranking the relative importance of effective preventive services, and it carries important implications for policymakers, clinicians, and patients. The crisis facing health care requires society to function as a community to use limited resources in ways that maximize the public good.