The asymmetry between the patient as a layman and the physician as an expert is a key element in health economics. However, a change to a higher degree of patient autonomy has taken place. Furthermore, there is a consensus in a positive correlation between general education and productivity of...

This textbook offers a comprehensive analysis of medical decision making under uncertainty by combining Test Information Theory with Expected Utility Theory. The book shows how the parameters of Bayes’ theorem can be combined with a value function of health states to arrive at informed test...

Chapter 1. Introduction -- Chapter 2. Basic Tools in Medical Decision Making -- Chapter 3. Basic Tools in Economics: Preferences, Expected Utility, Risk Aversion and Prudence -- Chapter 4. Treatment Decisions -- Chapter 5. Test and Treatment Decisions -- Chapter 6. Prudence and Medical Decision...