Our objective was to institute a cost-effectiveness-based reimbursement eligibility and coverage scheme for drugs in the Canadian province of British Columbia. All applications from drug manufacturers requesting Pharmacare (British Columbia government-funded drug insurance plan) coverage were...

Migraine is a common chronic headache disorder affecting more than 10% of persons in Western populations. The clinical management of migraine is notable for the variability of diagnostic testing, therapeutic interventions and cost. Standards of care and clinical guidelines for migraine have...

The management of breast cancer is a significant public health issue. Early detection of breast cancer through screening mammography, physician clinical examination and breast self-examination can reduce breast cancer mortality by approximately 30%. Most major health organisations agree that...

Hypertension, i.e. high systemic arterial pressure, is quantitatively related to future cardiovascular and renal insufficiency. Furthermore, treatment of hypertension is beneficial. Hypertension is therefore, one of the most important cardiovascular risk factors accounting for preventable...

Clinical practice guidelines have gradually become a normal part of daily life for many clinicians. In order to provide good support for practitioners and patients in their decisions on appropriate care, the practice guidelines should be of high quality, i.e. developed by a credible...

The prevalence of dementia, and in particular Alzheimer's disease, is expected to increase dramatically in the elderly population over the next few decades. Because of the possibilities of pharmacological and psychosocial interventions, which aim to slow down or even prevent progress of the...

This article describes 3 approaches to improving diabetes care in a health maintenance organisation (HMO) setting. The first approach was to identify which patients had not received a dilated eye examination in the past year, notify both them and their physician, and provide each with...

Parallel trade in pharmaceuticals has become a major European Union policy issue with several `solutions' being considered by the European Commission, Member State governments and the pharmaceutical industry in the `Bangemann Process'. This paper discusses the issues from an economic and public...

Objective: To assess the goals, strategic focus, structure, capabilities, activities and effectiveness of health economics (HE) departments in the Canadian pharmaceutical industry, to examine how these have evolved, and the implications of HE in the future of the pharmaceutical industry. Design...