title: Principles of economic evaluation for health care programs.
abstract: There is a growing demand for economic evaluation of new therapeutic interventions to provide health care decision makers with information on the relative value for money offered by alternative treatments. We review the rationale for economic evaluation and distinguish between 4 analytic techniques: cost minimization analysis, cost effectiveness analysis, cost utility analysis, and cost benefit analysis. Each technique is illustrated with an example from the literature.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: O'Brien
mesh_terms: D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000191:economics*; D015276:Health Care Rationing / Q000191:economics; D006801:Humans; D014481:United States