Question

write a paper that discusses two arguments supporting and two arguments opposing the use of health outcomes in a cost-effectiveness methodology.

Answer 1

Use of health outcomes in a cost-effective methodology has its advantages as well as disadvantages which are mentioned below-

Advantages-

• By comparing the health outcomes of two different clinical programs for curing the same disease we can easily find out which of the program is more efficient and cost-effective in terms of its health outcomes. Therefore, a comparison of various treatment plans, health program, and clinical studies becomes easy when the health outcomes are taken into consideration.
• Cost-effectiveness along with the health outcomes will give us an average ratio of the cost involved and its impact on the health outcome of different programs. In addition to this, we can also compare the incremental ratio of the cost and impact which will provide us with an idea of whether the program is efficient for the treatment over time.

Disadvantages-

• The measure of health outcomes can be very different for different programs. Therefore, there is no universal approach to the measurement of cost-effectiveness in terms of health outcomes.
• Health outcomes that are not in a general sense such as lives saved by the medical procedure, are termed as narrowly defined effect. These health outcomes are difficult to measure as they require a long follow up time of the patients and it is not the same for each patient. So, these health outcomes could not be used for the cost-effectiveness methodology.