title: Prevalence-based economic evaluation.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Researchers have often stated that economic evaluations of new drugs have rarely been used to inform healthcare decisions, despite the large volume of published studies. In this paper, a new categorization for economic evaluations of new drugs is proposed: incidence-based and prevalence-based. This categorization is designed to increase the likelihood that decision-makers are given more complete and usable economic information about new treatments.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Incidence-based evaluations (such as cost-effectiveness analysis) focus on the impact of a new treatment on a health condition from onset until cure or death. Prevalence-based evaluations focus on the impact of a new treatment on a health condition during a 1-year period. An incidence-based evaluation may focus either on a representative individual or on a specific disease cohort. A prevalence-based evaluation generally focuses on a specific population. Incidence-based evaluations measure the value of the new treatment compared to alternative treatments for the same health conditions and compared to commonly used treatments for other health conditions. Prevalence-based evaluations measure the impact of introducing the new treatment on annual healthcare budgets and population health.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Both types of evaluation provide important information when a new treatment is introduced to a population.
authors: Center for Economics Research, Research Triangle Institute, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709, USA. jom@rti.org
authors: J
authors: J
authors: Mauskopf