Schizophrenia is a chronic disease that typically manifests during adolescence and early adulthood. Treatment of this disease consumes a significant proportion of the healthcare budget (billions of dollars in the US). Primary management options for schizophrenia include both pharmacologic and...

The diffusion of protease inhibitors and non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors in the US in 1996 and 1997 reduced the number of deaths attributable to HIV disease and changed the way we think about the illness. Today, HIV disease may be deemed a fairly expensive chronic condition...

This paper provides an overview of, and guidance as to when, why and how to choose and use, different simulation modelling methods as applied to healthcare. What simulation is and why it is necessary in addressing healthcare problems are discussed. In addition, key criteria for choosing an...

Schizophrenia is a chronic disease characterized by periods of relative stability interrupted by acute episodes (or relapses). The course of the disease may vary considerably between patients. Patient histories show considerable inter- and even intra-individual variability. We provide a critical...

The literature reporting economic evaluations related to the treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD) has developed over the last decade. Most analyses have used economic models to estimate the cost effectiveness of drugs for the treatment of AD. This review considers the range of methods used in...

To support decision making, many countries have now introduced some formal assessment process to evaluate whether health technologies represent good `value for money'. These often take the form of decision models that can be used to explore elements of importance to generalisability of study...

The design of decision-analytic models for cost-effectiveness analysis has been the subject of discussion. The current work addresses this issue by noting that, when time is to be explicitly modelled, we need to represent phenomena occurring in continuous time. Models evaluated in continuous...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to discuss the economic pressures on long-term care systems, and describe how an economic case might be made for better care, support and preventive strategies. Design/methodology/approach – Discussion of recent developments and research responses, with...

In a recent leading article in PharmacoEconomics, Nuijten described some methods for incorporating uncertainty into health economic models and for utilising the information on uncertainty regarding the cost effectiveness of a therapy in resource allocation decision-making. His proposals are...