Lecture 21 - pharmacoeconomics Flashcards
what is economics?
economics as the study of how individuals and societies choose to use limited resources, which have alternative uses, to produce goods and services for current or future consumption. It analyses the costs and benefits of improving patterns of resource.
what is pharmacoeconomics?
pharmacoeconomics is the discipline of economics applied to the topic or medicines and medicinal product used in healthcare. it is used to health healthcare professional in making a conical decision regarding safety, efficacy, quality and economics
what does economics assume ?
Products are understood by the purchaser
Pleasure they bring are known
Customer has knowledge of the quality of the product to make the choice
what are costs that can be included in pharmacoeconomics ?
Organising and running the health service
Fixed costs which remain constant in the short term (rent, equipment, salaries)
Variable costs which vary with the volume of services (supplies, fee for service, cost of medicines)
Hospital resources
Community resources
Patient and family resource use
Costs borne by the patient or family related to treatment. Time for appointments, out of pocket expenses, transport, time off work
Resources in other sectors
Social care
Modifications of a home
Re-education
Redeployment
Opportunity cost
Given that resources are scarce if we decide to use them in one particular way, there is an opportunity forgone to obtain the benefits of using these resources in some other way
Marginal cost
The extra cost of producing one extra unit of output
Average cost
The average cost per unit of output
how are benefits measured?
Benefits measured are dictated by the analysis used.
Clinical outcomes
Quality of life
Quality adjusted life year
Money
what are types of analysis ?
Cost minimisation (CMA)
Cost effectiveness (CEA)
- Technical efficiency
How should we do it?
Usually CEA or CMA
Cost benefit (CBA)
Cost utility (CUA)
-
Allocative efficiency
Should we do it?
Usually CBA or CUA but can be CEA
describe cost minimisation
outcomes should be identical in each comparison in all respects
the unit of measure of the outcome does not have to be evaluated for effectiveness because of previous assumption of identical outcomes eg generic prescribing
describe cost effectiveness
similar outcomes is achieved by both alternatives but to differing degrees eg two different treatments for hypertension
The unit of measure of outcome is in natural units eg mg/dL in haemoglobin level, mmHg decrease in blood pressure, years of life gained and quality adjusted life years.
describe cost benefit
analysis allows for comparison of totally divergent outcomes
the outcome Sia measure don peony and usually related to where healthcare is paid for eg USA
