Economic Evaluation Issues

Important issues in performing economic evaluations

Data on costs and outcomes that we are interested in economic evaluations are usually a part of data generated in clinical research studies, but they often do not tend to be the most important indicators our analysis needs. Data on the utility of health outcomes collected in clinical trials refer to the clinical efficacy of a certain health intervention under strictly controlled experimental conditions. However, when tested service or technology leaves the “sheltered” milieu of experimental conditions and when it is applied to the population in real-life circumstances, clinical efficacy is usually reduced to the level of actual performance (i.e. effectiveness).

Thus data on the true effectiveness

For decision makers who play the main role in resource allocation, sensitivity analysis is an essential factor in appraising the results of economic evaluation as they point to the probability of success or failure in implementation of new interventions and technologies (taking into account future deviations from the planned costs and

Despite the evidence that can vouch for the gathered conclusions, first and foremost there must be a political will to accept them, regardless of (every so often conflicting) requirements of particular interest groups. Moreover, although quality economic evaluations may indicate exceptional relative cost-effectiveness of individual health intervention or technology, there can be obstacles in obtaining necessary funds. For example, goals attractive for funding are often short-term in nature, which means that interventions with potential long-term savings (such as prevention of chronic illnesses) are not always recognized in the health budget planning (26). Besides, for health technology with unit cost efficiency there can be financing difficulties in situations with too many potential users, as intervention becomes too expensive in absolute terms