Public health 3b Flashcards
What factors can influence health economics decision?
size of the problem, effectiveness of intervention, alternatives, disease, fault, if it’s a health problem, special population (preterm babies),
What is opportunity cost?
to spend resources on one activity means a sacrifice to resources in another activity
What is economic efficiency?
maximising the benefit from the allocation of resources between activities.
What is economic evaluation?
the assessment of efficiency - a comparative study of the costs and benefits of healthcare interventions.
Costs and benefits are analysed in terms of their increments or differences - are the incremental benefits of a new treatment worth the incremental costs?
What is health?
according to the WHO - not just the absence of disease but the complete biological, psychological, social and cultural well being
What is a QALY?
one QALY = 1 year of perfect health or 2 years in half perfect health
combines length of life with quality of life
What are the four types of economic evaluation?
cost-effectiveness analysis -outcomes measured in natural units costs in monetary units cost-utility - outcomes measured in QALY's cost-benefit analysis - outcomes measured in monetary units cost-minimisation analysis -outcomes measured in any units and are the same so comparison of the costs only
all 4 are generically referred to as cost-effectiveness analysis
What is a cost-effectiveness plane?
graph with incremental costs (y) and incremental effect - QALY (x)
in the upper left quadrant - new drug ‘dominated’
in the lower right quadrant - new drug ‘dominant’
What is the ICER?
incremental cost-effectiveness ratio
the difference in costs / difference in benefits
How much do NICE value a QALY at?
£20,000 - has to be taken from another service so there is funding thresholds.
A value used as a threshold for ICER (ie below 20,000 then funded)
