Cystic fibrosis (CF) is the most common life-shortening genetic disease, with an incidence of 1 in 2500 and carrier frequency of 1 in 25, amongst Caucasians (Welsh, Ramsey et al. 2001). With recent advances in treatment, most children with CF now can expect to survive into adulthood and life...

Purpose: To estimate an Australian algorithm for the newly developed 5-level version of the EQ-5D, for use in the economic evaluation of health and healthcare interventions. Methods: A discrete choice experiment (DCE) was run in an online Australian-representative sample. A random-effects probit...

Background: As the population ages, the incidence of dementia and its burden on society will increase. The economic costs of dementia are high, particularly for persons in the mid and late stages of the disease, when formal care arrangements such as nursing home placement are required. The need...

Economic evaluation of mandatory health programs generally do not consider the utility impact of a loss of consumer choice upon implementation, despite evidence suggesting that consumers do value having the ability to choose. The primary aim of this study was to explore whether the utility...

Background: Economic evaluation of healthcare interventions and technologies using the quality-adjusted life year (or life year) usually values outcomes independently of who they accrue to. This is a simplifying assumption relating to the more complex societal preferences. While the premise of...

Background: There are several perceived benefits from introducing positron emission tomography (PET) scanning into the staging of non small lung cancer (NSCLC). However, its greatest primary benefit is the role it can potential perform in reducing the number of unnecessary diagnostic...

Objective: To identify the key methodological issues in the construction of population-level EQ-5D / Time Trade-Off (TTO) preference elicitation studies. Study Design: This study involves three components. The first was to identify existing population-level EQ-5D TTO studies. The second was to...

Cost-utility analysis, combining mortality effects with health-related quality of life effects, has become the preferred method for presenting economic evaluation. It allows comparability between potential investments in different areas of health and healthcare as the outcomes are generic and...

The aims of this paper are: to review and describe different approaches to HTA used in Australia and in other countries and to identify the features of best practice in HTA, particularly those likely to be most relevant to HTA at a local (ie state/regional) level. There are a number of...

Economic evaluation is the systematic assessment of the costs and consequences of alternative courses of action. In health and healthcare, the results can be used to inform clinicians and policy makers about the relative cost-effectiveness of options under consideration [1]. Many economic...