Economic evaluation in critical care: a focus on severe sepsis in oncology.
Hospital care, physician and clinical services, and prescription drugs continue to drive healthcare expenditures across healthcare systems and nations. The critical-care setting, owing to the complexity and intensity of care, is a high user of the resources that drive healthcare spending. Information regarding the cost and effectiveness of critical-care therapies is necessary to properly guide care and policies for this unique population. Many challenges exist for conducting and comparing economic evaluation in critical care. Recently, recommendations on cost and cost-effectiveness analysis in critical care have been developed that will guide future research. A focus area, severe sepsis in oncology, is reviewed to highlight the challenges and opportunities of economic evaluation in this setting.
Division of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmaceutical Policy & Outcomes Research, The University of Texas, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, 1515 Holcombe Blvd, Unit 706, Houston, TX 77030, USA. kking@mdanderson.org.
Krista M
KM
King
Ginger D
GD
Langley
Kenneth Vi
KV
Rolston
Gregory F
GF
Pratt
Todd W
TW
Canada
Gregory H
GH
Botz