title: The adjustment of cost measurement to account for learning.
abstract: This note discusses the adjustment of cost measurement to account for learning. By learning is meant improvements in productive efficiency resulting from use of a (health) technology in routine practice. A recently proposed method is shown to be potentially misleading. Alternatively, it is suggested that the total cost is decomposed in treatment cost and learning cost. Furthermore, if there is uncertainty about the long-run unit cost, learning will reveal the true cost. A method to adjust the learning cost for the value of this information is illustrated.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Health and Social Policy, Odense University, Denmark.
authors.forename: L K
authors.initials: LK
authors.lastname: Langkilde
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Søgaard
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000191:economics*; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D003657:Decision Making; D004526:Efficiency; D017048:Health Care Costs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D007318:Inservice Training / Q000191:economics*; D013677:Medical Laboratory Science / Q000191:economics; D018803:Models, Economic; D011336:Probability