The use of cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) as a tool for the economic evaluation of medical and public health interventions has increased dramatically over the last 20 years. Yet, despite the prevalence of these analyses, health care technological adoption patterns reveal large disparities in the employment of cost-effectiveness criteria. These disparities may reflect the fact that cost-effectiveness ratios as they are currently expressed do not include all the dimensions germane to making a welfare-improving decision. In particular, there are often large degrees of uncertainty about both the current costs and benefits of technology adoption and/or coverage. Furthermore, the influence of current technology adoption and coverage decisions on the use of future potential interventions is often overlooked. In this project, we will develop methodologies to assess the economic value of health interventions that can adequately and simply reflect these dimensions and empirically estimate their importance in clinical decision-making. The ultimate goal is to derive analytic tools that more accurately and systematically capture the decision-maker's preferences with regard to uncertainty. These new methods will result in measures that more appropriately measure welfare, thus providing a stronger basis for decision-making in the health care context.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
Type
Small Research Grants (R03)
Project #
1R03HS013738-01
Application #
6630183
Study Section
Health Care Technology and Decision Science (HTDS)
Program Officer
Lawrence, William
Project Start
2003-08-01
Project End
2006-01-31
Budget Start
2003-08-01
Budget End
2006-01-31
Support Year
1
Fiscal Year
2003
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
Columbia University (N.Y.)
Department
Public Health & Prev Medicine
Type
Schools of Public Health
DUNS #
621889815
City
New York
State
NY
Country
United States
Zip Code
10032