Criteria list for assessment of methodological quality of economic evaluations: Consensus on Health Economic Criteria.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of the Consensus on Health Economic Criteria (CHEC) project is to develop a criteria list for assessment of the methodological quality of economic evaluations in systematic reviews. The criteria list resulting from this CHEC project should be regarded as a minimum standard.


METHODS
The criteria list has been developed using a Delphi method. Three Delphi rounds were needed to reach consensus. Twenty-three international experts participated in the Delphi panel.


RESULTS
The Delphi panel achieved consensus over a generic core set of items for the quality assessment of economic evaluations. Each item of the CHEC-list was formulated as a question that can be answered by yes or no. To standardize the interpretation of the list and facilitate its use, the project team also provided an operationalization of the criteria list items.


CONCLUSIONS
There was consensus among a group of international experts regarding a core set of items that can be used to assess the quality of economic evaluations in systematic reviews. Using this checklist will make future systematic reviews of economic evaluations more transparent, informative, and comparable. Consequently, researchers and policy-makers might use these systematic reviews more easily. The CHEC-list can be downloaded freely from http://www.beoz.unimaas.nl/chec/.
Evers
Silvia
S
Department of Health Policy and Economics, Institute for Rehabilitation Research, Maastricht University, The Netherlands. S.Evers@beoz.unimaas.nl
Goossens
Mariëlle
M
de Vet
Henrica
H
van Tulder
Maurits
M
Ament
André
A
D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis / Q000592:standards*; D003697:Delphi Technique; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine / Q000592:standards*; D017408:Guidelines as Topic; D006801:Humans; D017059:Models, Econometric; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D012196:Review Literature as Topic; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013673:Technology Assessment, Biomedical / Q000191:economics* / Q000592:standards*