An update on cost-effectiveness analysis in critical care.
Critical care providers are under increasing pressure to be attentive to cost concerns. The ICU consumes a significant amount of resources and, as such, is a frequently identified target of efforts to limit escalating healthcare costs. Attempts to reduce costs need not progress in a haphazard fashion. Rather, they can proceed in a logical, systematic manner with the assistance of formal economic studies. Cost-effectiveness analysis is one tool for these projects-it allows physicians to compare the financial consequences of different approaches to resource allocation. ICU physicians, therefore, must become familiar with the basic concepts that underlie cost-effectiveness analysis. Cost-effectiveness analyses that address many different aspects of critical care delivery are now commonly found in the critical care literature. With a framework for evaluating these studies, clinicians can better apply their findings to their own institutions.
Shorr
Andrew F
AF
Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Medicine, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, DC 20307, USA. AFSHORR@dnamail.com
D003363:Cost Control; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D003422:Critical Care / Q000191:economics*; D004470:Economics, Medical; D017721:Hospital Costs; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units / Q000191:economics* / Q000458:organization & administration; D011315:Preventive Medicine; D016896:Treatment Outcome