Difference between revisions of "Economic evaluation"

Revision as of 09:49, 24 June 2014

Question

If a vaccine product is more effective, but also more expensive, when are the additional benefits worth the excess cost?

• The benefits are assessed from the decrease of cases of pnaumococcal deseases following the extensive use of the vaccine. Benefit (effectiveness) is measured in Quality-Adjusted Life Years (QALYs)
• Health care costs are the only costs taken into account.

Answer

To find the most cost-effective product according to the crieria described in the rationale.

Rationale

Products are arranged accordin to effectiveness (V₁ < V₂ < V₃, etc.). With the product's incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER; unit €/QALY) the product's effectiveness is comaperd to the next more effective product. ICER is calculated by dividing the difference between costs with the difference between health effects:

Failed to parse (Missing <code>texvc</code> executable. Please see math/README to configure.): ICER = \frac{(C_2-S_2) - (C_1-S_1)}{E_2-E_1},

where C is the prize of the vaccinating progranm, S is the savings in health care costs and E is the savings on QALY.

The more effective and more expensive product (V₂) is chosen, if the decision makers think the additional effectiveness is worth the excess cost, meaning ICER < acceptable marginal cost.

See also