title: MEDICAL DEVICE PRICES IN ECONOMIC EVALUATIONS.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Economic evaluations, although not formally used in purchasing decisions for medical devices in Canada, are still being conducted and published. The aim of this study was to examine the way that prices have been included in Canadian economic evaluations of medical devices.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted a review of the economic concepts and implications of methods used for economic evaluations of the eleven most implanted medical devices from the Canadian perspective.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found Canadian economic studies for five of the eleven medical devices and identified nineteen Canadian studies. Overall, the device costs were important components of total procedure cost, with an average ratio of 44.1 %. Observational estimates of the device costs were obtained from buyers or sellers in 13 of the 19 studies. Although most of the devices last more than 1 year, standard costing methods for capital equipment was never used. In addition, only eight studies included a sensitivity analysis for the device cost. None of the sensitivity analyses were based on actual price distributions.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Economic evaluations are potentially important for policy making, but although they are being conducted, there is no standardized approach for incorporating medical device prices in economic analyses. Our review provides suggestions for improvements in how the prices are incorporated for economic evaluations of medical devices.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Health Economicsiakpinar@ihe.ca.
authors.forename: Ilke
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Akpinar
authors.affiliation: Institute of Health Economics.
authors.forename: Philip
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jacobs
authors.affiliation: Institute of Health Economics.
authors.forename: Don
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4416-6876
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Husereau
mesh_terms: D002170:Canada; D003132:Commerce; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D004864:Equipment and Supplies / Q000191:economics*; D006801:Humans; D013673:Technology Assessment, Biomedical / Q000379:methods*
keywords: Economic evaluation; Medical device; Prices