Background: The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) emphasises that cost-effectiveness is not the only consideration in health technology appraisal and is increasingly explicit about other factors considered relevant. Observing NICE decisions and the evidence considered in...

Background: Reducing rates of healthcare acquired infection has been identified by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care as a national priority. One of the goals is the prevention of central venous catheter-related bloodstream infection (CR-BSI). At least 3,500 cases of...

This dissertation consists of two essays. In the first essay I show that there are substantial differences in unemployment durations and reemployment outcomes for workers coming from different occupations. I argue that this variation can be explained by differences in occupational employment...

Das englische National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) wird in der bundesdeutschen Diskussion um die Reform der Institutionen zur Konkretisierung des Leistungskatalogs in der GKV entweder als Vorbild oder als abschreckendes Beispiel genannt. Die Analyse der von NICE angewandten...

There is a burgeoning literature in health economic evaluation, with this form of analysis becoming increasingly influential at the health policy making level in a number of countries. However, a search of the literature reveals that in Japan, the world's second largest health care market, very...

Setting: In 2007, WHO recommended introducing rapid Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) culture in the diagnostic algorithm of smear-negative pulmonary tuberculosis (TB). Objective: To assess the cost-effectiveness of the introduction of rapid non-commercial culture method (Thin Layer Agar)...

The aim of this article is to assess dilemma raised by adaptive preferences in the economic evaluation of growth hormone (GH) treatment for non-GH-deficient short children, and of bilateral cochlear implants for deaf children. Early implementation of both technologies and their irreversible...