The lack of a uniform costing methodology is often considered a weakness of economic evaluations that hinders the interpretation and comparison of studies. Standardisation is therefore an important topic within the methodology of economic evaluations and in national guidelines that formulate the...

One of the principal roles of the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) is to appraise selected existing and emerging healthcare technologies and, as a result, produce guidance for the National Health Service (NHS) in England and Wales. A central part of this appraisal is the...

The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) responds to requests by the Department of Health for guidance on the use of selected new and established technologies in the National Health Service (NHS) in England and Wales. This paper asks whether the NICE methodological guidelines help...

Implementation of disease management programmes within an integrated delivery system (IDS) requires a multipronged approach utilising education, process changes, tools and communication to overcome barriers. Implementation efforts should be directed toward every member of the staff who comes in...

Most people with Alzheimer's disease and other dementias do not receive ongoing, intentional medical management for these conditions, and effective coordination of medical and non-medical care is rare. Many published guidelines and consensus statements provide recommendations for identification,...

Background: Swedish formulary committees are expected to influence prescribing practice by establishing and issuing drug lists and clinical practice guidelines, particularly now that financial responsibility for prescription drugs has been transferred from the national to the county council...

Influenza remains a significant cause of worldwide morbidity and mortality. With the availability of new effective antivirals for the treatment of influenza, early diagnosis of the disease will become increasingly important for effective disease management. Although investigators are generally...

Most breast and ovarian cancers occur sporadically, but an estimated 5 to 10% of cases occur in women with hereditary predisposition to these cancers. Two genes, BRCA1 and BRCA2, have been identified, which, when altered, are thought to be responsible for most cases of hereditary breast and...

The methods that have been used to estimate the clinical and economic impact of vaccination programmes are not always uniform, which makes it difficult to compare results between economic analyses. Furthermore, the relative efficiency of vaccination programmes can be sensitive to some of the...

Japanese clinical trials have been drastically changing in response to the implementation of the International Conference on Harmonisation - Good Clinical Practice (ICH-GCP) guideline in 1997. The most important aim of the new guideline is to standardise the quality of clinical trials in the US,...