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Cost‐effectiveness in surgery: concepts of cost‐utility analysis explained
Author(s) -
Vissapragada Ravi,
Bulamu Norma,
Kar Jonathan,
Yazbek Roger,
Watson David I.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
anz journal of surgery
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.426
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1445-2197
pISSN - 1445-1433
DOI - 10.1111/ans.16586
Subject(s) - medicine , terminology , economic evaluation , psychological intervention , cost–benefit analysis , interpretation (philosophy) , health care , economic analysis , risk analysis (engineering) , economic model , management science , operations management , economics , nursing , computer science , microeconomics , ecology , philosophy , linguistics , pathology , agricultural economics , biology , programming language , economic growth
Economic evaluations are increasingly becoming part of the surgical evidence base. With health and research guidelines emphasizing both clinical and economic benefits, surgeons will need to consider the impact of economic evaluations in the future. It seems reasonable that surgical costs in the public healthcare sector should be justified by the benefits that clinical interventions offer. Thus, it is vital to understand the methodological differences, reported outcomes and limitations of economic evaluations pertinent to surgical practice as well. As terminology and concepts can be unfamiliar to surgeons, understanding results from these studies can seem difficult. This article aims to inform surgical readers of the processes involved in performing economic evaluations to determine and compare the cost‐effectiveness of treatments. The various types of economic evaluations, their uses, design characteristics, model parameters, interpretation of outputs, uncertainty analyses and notable limitations are considered. Through a hypothetical clinical example that compares costs and effects of surgical versus medical treatment for cancer, key concepts in economic evaluations are considered.