Abstracts by key term: Cost-benefit analysis
The 2013 coalition agreement does not mention the words innovation and progress once in the “Health and Care” section (apart from the new innovation fund), but this aspect is given very broad consideration in the economic policy part of the agreement. The key point is the goal of investing at least 3 % of the gross domestic product in research and development in the future. In order to achieve this, the health care system is also mentioned very prominently in the contract, for which the federal government, for example, plans to promote innovative products and processes in the area of individualized medicine as well as gender and geriatric medicine. However, the question arises as to what effects such research initiatives have on actual care in the health system, i.e. whether the translation into the care context is successful and whether appropriate procedures and assessment methods are available to decide which innovations actually represent medical or social progress should therefore find their way into general care practice at all. This is the subject of health services research, which from a health economics perspective always involves weighing up the identified benefits of a measure and the resources required to implement it. The use of these findings varies greatly depending on the service sector in the healthcare system, which indicates that there is a need to catch up, which will be discussed in this article. The starting point should first be a brief distinction between innovation and progress, in order to then discuss what contribution cost and benefit analyzes can make in this distinction.
24.01.2013
Cost-effectiveness analysis has experienced enormous growth in recent years as an aid to decision-making. Their legal anchoring in the performance audit means that the reliability of the statements must be checked. Political and methodological skepticism is particularly directed against a simple decision based on the monetary costs per QALY of a therapy. The discussion is also growing as to whether subjective assessments of benefits by individuals should take precedence over objective assessments of a group. It is still unclear which controls will ultimately be chosen in the healthcare system. However, both approaches require methodological refinement before they can offer helpful support to health policy.
01.03.2009
When it comes to health care research, health economics emphasizes distributing scarce resources in such a way that overall maximum coverage of needs, measured in terms of patient benefit, is achieved. This means providing care as efficiently as possible, while from a medical perspective the most effective measure - regardless of costs - would be preferred. Using ex ante cost-benefit analysis, it is possible to model various alternative courses of action or care concepts. After an appropriate observation period, a re-evaluation of the everyday care data obtained makes sense. The aim is the targeted and continuous optimization of the quality of care, not cost containment. The actual cost-benefit ratio of a implemented care concept can help here. Health care research that focuses only on the costs or only on the benefits cannot result in optimal care from an economic perspective. For this reason, it is important to pay more attention to efficiency through cost-benefit assessment in health care research.