title: [Health economics and antibiotic therapy].
abstract: In the field of antibiotic therapy, particularly the methods of economic evaluation hold one's attention within the wide range of health economics' applications. Several tools allow a comparison of the outcomes of alternative strategies and thereby guide choices to the most appropriate solutions. After a brief recall of the methods classically used to evaluate health care strategy, the authors stress the importance and difficulty of fixing and applying a correct and satisfactory procedure for evaluation. An evaluation example of antibiotic therapy allows to illustrate the application of the principles confronting a field in which competition is intense and economic stakes stay large--a fact which naturally yields to seek after objective decision making criteria. The health care policies drawn by public authorities as well as the marketing strategies of the health sector trade are partly based on such evaluations. If these techniques are not intended for the practitioner in the first place, they should not be indifferent to him since they influence health authorities and thereby indirectly affect the therapeutic freedom of the physician.
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000191:economics* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003363:Cost Control; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D005194:Family Practice; D017048:Health Care Costs; D006291:Health Policy; D006801:Humans; D010033:Otitis Media / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000191:economics
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents
vernacular_title: Economie de la santé et antibiotherapie.