Question

identify which economic evaluations you would use for a new treatment of a health ailment of your choosing. Assume that there are already existing alternative treatments for the same ailment. Be sure to include at least five reasons in support of the economic evaluation technique.

Answer 1

• Economic Evaluation is the comparative analysis/evaluation of two or more interventions in terms of their cost and consequences
• It is the evaluation or assessment of different programs based on their input given Vs results/outcomes generated.

I would choose cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) it compares the costs with natural health outcome units, such as life-years saved and number of cases averted (14, 15). For example, a cancer prevention program director at a local health agency may need to decide between a number of interventions addressing the same health outcome. CEAs are appropriate to inform the decision because they maintain health outcomes in their natural units rather than monetize the outcome. Cost-effectiveness ratio (CER) is the summary measure of CEA results, and it is expressed in costs per natural health units such as dollars per life-year saved (14, 15). For example, the incremental CER of “Outcome Monitoring plus Recovery Management Checkups” of adults with chronic substance abuse in Chicago is $23.38 per abstinent day and $59.51 per reduced substance-related problem (e.g., liver disease) (18).

Five resons in support of this CEA economic evaluation technique:
• Outcomes are measured in “natural units”
▫ The outcomes are usually clinically relevant e.g. life-years, mm
Hg for BP, HbA1c for diabetes, etc.
• Examines the costs of alternative approaches to achieving a
specific (health) objective.
▫ Can be used to compare interventions to achieve the same
outcomes e.g. the same clinical indication
• Identifies the least cost way of achieving the objective to see
how both cost and choice of technique vary as the magnitude
of the objective varies.
• Advantages are ease of communication and specificity.
• Disadvantage is lack of ability to compare interventions across
the health sector i.e., costs can be compared but outcomes cannot.