Cost Benefit Analysis In Health Care

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There are several basic approaches that can be utilized when conducting economic evaluations for any new health care intervention; which can include medications that are designed for the treatment and prevention of disease and how to relate the effectiveness with the overall monetary value of the new treatment. The economic tools that can be employed to perform such an analysis can be broken down into four basic parts that consist of cost-minimization analysis (CMA), cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA), cost-benefit analysis (CBA) and cost-utility analysis (CUA). These four categories will contain the major financial analytical techniques employed when evaluating medical treatments and interventions along with other types termed cost-consequence …show more content…

This type of analysis is advantageous when used in conjunction with clinical trials, where it exhibits its most common application and is more familiar to clinical practitioners. The outcomes that are generated during this analysis may or may not be converted into monetary values . CEA will help to identify neglected opportunities by highlighting interventions that are relatively inexpensive, yet have the potential to reduce the disease burden substantially2. The examples that demonstrate the effectiveness of CEA can be evaluated using an example set forth using oral rehydration therapy (ORT) in young children. This example contests that ORT does not diminish the incidence of diarrhea, but dramatically reduces its severity and the associated mortality rate2. The data presented demonstrated that it could cost only US$2 to US$4 per life year saved helped make the case that this was something that public policy should promote, and many countries responded by promoting ORT, saving millions of lives2. The analysis set forth above demonstrates that CEA can in fact be utilized effectively when analyzing subjects having the same clinical units. The limitations of this analysis can be seen when performing such an analysis and the alternatives used in the comparison have different clinical units, thus making this analysis …show more content…

CUA is a type of cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA), which both aim to dissect the incremental expenses and incremental consequences between the options, although CUA will include societal or patient preferences to adjust the outcomes including additional years of life saved. The CUA analysis is appropriately utilized to compare two different drugs or procedures in which the benefits may be different3. When utilizing the CUA technique, the numerator that is used is a cost measure consisting of the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) while the denominator used is the quality adjusted life year (QALY). The QALYs as defined above are expressed in terms of life years saved and are weighted to account for quality (QALYs) or disability (DALYs). The QALY represents both survival and quality of life (QoL) benefits connected with the utilization of a healthcare

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