Economic evaluations of HIV treatment and health research with people diagnosed with HIV infection and co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders.
This paper describes the research challenges involved in measuring costs in economic evaluations of patients who are coping simultaneously with HIV/AIDS and co-occurring mental health and substance abuse disorders-especially in multi-site studies. We describe the general issues that arise in measuring costs for this population and suggest some operational solutions for their resolution, drawing from our experience in a recent multi-site health services research study focused on this population. We show that while reliance on patient self-report data may be unavoidable to provide a common denominator in multi-site studies, there are also some practical ways of improving the accuracy of such data and the cost estimates that result from them. We also provide readers with a means for securing the data collection instruments developed for the cost component of this study in the hope that these may serve as templates for researchers doing similar work.
Conover
C J
CJ
Center for Health Policy, Law and Management, Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, USA. conoverc@hpolicy.duke.edu
Ettner
S L
SL
Weaver
M
M
Flynn
P M
PM
Porto
J V
JV
D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D017831:Diagnosis, Dual (Psychiatry); D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000191:economics* / Q000628:therapy; D017048:Health Care Costs; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000191:economics*; D015337:Multicenter Studies as Topic; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000191:economics