Methodological approaches to pharmaco-economics |
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Authors: | EJ Souê tre,W. Qing,and M. Hardens |
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Affiliation: | Benefit Research Group, Clinical Economics &Quality of Life, 2, rue Louis Armand, 92600 Asnières, France;University of Pennsylvania, Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, 3641 Locus walk, Philadelphia, PA 19104–6218, USA;Benefit BV, Schipholweg 9F, 2316 XE Leiden, The Netherlands |
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Abstract: | Summary— Due to the increased need for cost-containment policies, most decision makers are facing the issue of the efficiency of health care strategies. In this context, economic evaluation becomes a major instrument. However, the credibility of economic data depends on a number of methodological steps: selection of strategy of economic evaluation (cost/effectiveness, cost/benefit, generation of economic hypotheses, study design (cross-sectional, prospective, naturalistic), data collection (data-base, physicians), data analysis (costing, statistics). In this respect, the conduct of proper economic evaluation relies on a combination of expertise in clinical epidemiology as well as in health economics. |
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Keywords: | cost benefit economics methodology drugs |
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