Theory and Methods of Economic Evaluation of Health Care / Edition 1

by Magnus Johannesson

Overview

Most economic evaluations of health care programmes at the moment are cost­ effectiveness and cost-utility analyses. The problem with these methods is that their theoretical foundations are unclear. This has led to confusion about how to define the costs and health effects and how to interpret the results of these studies. In the environmental and traffic safety fields it is instead common to carry out traditional cost-bene:fit analyses of health improving programmes. This striking difference in how health programmes are assessed in different fields was the original motivation for writing this book. The aim of the book is to tty and provide a coherent framework within cost-bene:fit analysis and welfare economics for the different methods of economic evaluation in the health care field. The book is written in an easily accessible manner and several examples of applications of the different methods are provided. It is my hope that it will be useful both for teaching purposes and as a guide for practitioners in the field. Glenn C. Blomquist, John D. Graham, Rich O'Conor and four anonymous referees provided helpful comments on previous versions of the manuscript. I would also like to express my gratitude to the following persons for helping me to prepare the manuscript: Carl-Magnus Berglund, Carin Blanksvard, Ann Brown, and Ziad Obeid.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781441947574
Publisher:	Springer US
Publication date:	12/03/2010
Series:	Developments in Health Economics and Public Policy , #4
Edition description:	Softcover reprint of hardcover 1st ed. 1996
Pages:	247
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.02(d)

Table of Contents

1. Introduction.- 2. Welfare Economics.- 3. The Monetary Value of Health Changes.- 4. The Resource Consequences of Health Changes.- 5. The Revealed Preference Approach.- 6. The Expressed Preference Approach.- 7. The Estimation of Costs.- 8. Additional Issues in Cost-Benefit Analysis.- 9. Cost-Effectiveness Analysis.- 10. Cost-Utility Analysis.- 11. Economic Evaluation and Policy Making.- 12. Concludipng Remarks.

Editorial Reviews

The problem arises from the fact that most current economic evaluations of health care programs are analyses of cost- effectiveness or cost-utility. Because the theoretical foundations of those methods are unclear, there is confusion about how to define the costs and health effects and how to interpret the results. On the other hand, evaluations in the environmental and traffic safety fields are usually the traditional cost-benefit analyses of health improving programs, which make them difficult to compare with the others. Johannesson's (Stockholm School of Economics) solution is to construct a coherent framework with cost-benefit analysis and welfare economics for the different methods. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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