Health economics: the start of clinical freedom.
BACKGROUND
Since Professor Hampton announced the death of clinical freedom in 1983, the increasing influence of Evidence-based Medicine and Health Technology Assessment has contributed to augment the feeling that clinicians have a secondary role in the therapeutic decision-making process.


CONCLUSIONS
This article constitutes a reflection on how clinicians may use the results of economic evaluations in their daily clinical practice, making decisions about cost-effectiveness on a case by case basis, and addressing both the patient's and society's needs. To that end, some illustrating examples are taken from the literature to show there are factors with great impact on cost-effectiveness results that can be easily identified and modified by clinicians.


CONCLUSIONS
The evolution of the discipline and the trend towards a tailored therapy suggest that health economics is not the end of clinical freedom but the start of it.
Sacristán
José Antonio
JA
Clinical Research Department, Eli Lilly and Company, Avenida de la Industria 30, Alcobendas, 28108 Madrid, Spain. sacristan_jose@lilly.com
Costi
María
M
Valladares
Amparo
A
Dilla
Tatiana
T
D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D003657:Decision Making; D004470:Economics, Medical; D006801:Humans; D017009:Professional Autonomy