Katana VentraIP

Cost-effectiveness analysis

Cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) is a form of economic analysis that compares the relative costs and outcomes (effects) of different courses of action. Cost-effectiveness analysis is distinct from cost–benefit analysis, which assigns a monetary value to the measure of effect.[1] Cost-effectiveness analysis is often used in the field of health services, where it may be inappropriate to monetize health effect. Typically the CEA is expressed in terms of a ratio where the denominator is a gain in health from a measure (years of life, premature births averted, sight-years gained) and the numerator is the cost associated with the health gain.[2] The most commonly used outcome measure is quality-adjusted life years (QALY).[1]

Cost–utility analysis is similar to cost-effectiveness analysis. Cost-effectiveness analyses are often visualized on a plane consisting of four quadrants, the cost represented on one axis and the effectiveness on the other axis.[3] Cost-effectiveness analysis focuses on maximising the average level of an outcome, distributional cost-effectiveness analysis extends the core methods of CEA to incorporate concerns for the distribution of outcomes as well as their average level and make trade-offs between equity and efficiency, these more sophisticated methods are of particular interest when analysing interventions to tackle health inequality.[4][5]

 – Systematic approach to estimating the strengths and weaknesses of alternatives

Cost–benefit analysis

 – Unexpected incurred costs in excess of budgeted amounts

Cost overrun

 – Degree to which a process minimizes waste of resources

Efficiency

 – Non-departmental public body of the Department of Health in the UK

National Institute for Health and Care Excellence

Distributional cost-effectiveness analysis

Tufts CEA Registry

Global Health Cost-Effectiveness Analysis Registry

BBC report

Why some drugs are not worth it

World Health Organization – CHOICE (Choosing Interventions that are Cost Effective)

ISPOR-CO, The Colombian Chapter of The International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research

International Cost Estimating and Analysis Association