Cost-effectiveness in health and medicine presents a consensus of experts on appropriate methods for standardizing the conduct of CEAs for use in policy arenas. Standardization is of particular importance for CEA, because it allows comparisons of the costs and health outcomes of alternative methods of improving health, such as public health programs and medical technologies. The book provides a detailed discussion of the theoretical background underlying areas of controversy, and uses theory to guide explicit recommendations for study conduct.

CEAs (cost-effectiveness analyses) are used by decision makers in the health sector to make enlightened evaluations and this book provides an in depth look at how to evaluate the evaluator. The book is aimed specifically at Public health specialists.

The United States has the highest per capita spending on health care of any industrialized nation but continually lags behind other nations in health care outcomes including life expectancy and infant mortality. National health expenditures are projected to exceed $2.5 trillion in 2009. Given healthcare's direct impact on the economy, there is a critical need to control health care spending. According to The Health Imperative: Lowering Costs and Improving Outcomes, the costs of health care have strained the federal budget, and negatively affected state governments, the private sector and individuals. Healthcare expenditures have restricted the ability of state and local governments to fund other priorities and have contributed to slowing growth in wages and jobs in the private sector. Moreover, the number of uninsured has risen from 45.7 million in 2007 to 46.3 million in 2008. The Health Imperative: Lowering Costs and Improving Outcomes identifies a number of factors driving expenditure growth including scientific uncertainty, perverse economic and practice incentives, system fragmentation, lack of patient involvement, and under-investment in population health. Experts discussed key levers for catalyzing transformation of the delivery system. A few included streamlined health insurance regulation, administrative simplification and clarification and quality and consistency in treatment. The book is an excellent guide for policymakers at all levels of government, as well as private sector healthcare workers.

The field's bestselling reference, updated with the latest tools, data, techniques, and the latest recommendations from the Second Panel on Cost-Effectiveness in Health and Medicine Cost-Effectiveness Analysis in Health is a practical introduction to the tools, methods, and procedures used worldwide to perform cost-effective research. Covering every aspect of a complete cost-effectiveness analysis, this book shows you how to find which data you need, where to find it, how to analyze it, and how to prepare a high-quality report for publication. Designed for the classroom or the individual learner, the material is presented in simple and accessible language for those who lack a biostatistics or epidemiology background, and each chapter includes real-world examples and "tips and tricks" that highlight key information. Exercises throughout allow you to test your understanding with practical application, and the companion website features downloadable data sets for students, as well as lecture slides and a test bank for instructors. This new third edition contains new discussion on meta-analysis and advanced modeling techniques, a long worked example using visual modeling software TreeAge Pro, and updated recommendations from the U.S. Public Health Service's Panel on Cost-Effectiveness in Health and Medicine. This is the second printing of the 3rd Edition, which has been corrected and revised for 2018 to reflect the latest standards and methods. Cost-effectiveness analysis is used to evaluate medical interventions worldwide, in both developed and developing countries. This book provides process-specific instruction in a concise, structured format to give you a robust working knowledge of common methods and techniques. Develop a thoroughly fleshed-out research project Work accurately with costs, probabilities, and models Calculate life expectancy and quality-adjusted life years Prepare your study and your data for publication Comprehensive analysis skills are essential for students seeking careers in public health, medicine, biomedical research, health economics, health policy, and more. Cost-Effectiveness Analysis in Health walks you through the process from a real-world perspective to help you build a skillset that's immediately applicable in the field.

′This handbook is an excellent reflection of the growing maturity and methodological sophistication of the field of Health Technology Assessment. The Handbook covers a spectrum of issues, from primary evidence (clinical trials) through reviews and meta-analysis, to identifying and filling gaps in the evidence. Up-to-date, clearly written, and well-edited, the handbook is a needed addition to any personal or professional library dealing with Health Technology Assessment.′ Professor David Banta, TNO Prevention and Health, The Netherlands ′This text presents the most advanced knowledge on methodology in health care research, and will form the backbone of many future studies′ - Paula Roberts, Nurse Researcher The `effectiveness revolution′ both in research and clinical practice, has tested available methods for health services research to the extreme. How far can observational methods, routine data and qualitative methods be used in health care evaluation? What cost and outcome measures are appropriate, and how should data be gathered? With the support of over two million pounds from the British Health Technology Assessment Research Programme, the research project for this Handbook has led to both a synthesis of all of the existing knowledge in these areas and an agenda for future debate and research. The chapters and their authors have been selected through a careful process of peer review and provide a coherent and complete approach to the field. The handbook has been a unique collaboration between internationally regarded clinicians, statisticians, epidemiologists, social scientists, health economists and ethicists. It provides the most advanced thinking and the most authoritative resource for a state of the art review of methods of evaluating health care and will be required reading for anyone involved in health services research and management.

Evidence Based Nursing is written in response to numerous requests by nurse practitioners and other graduate faculty for a nursing literature resource. This reader-friendly, accessible guide features plentiful examples from the nursing literature and the addition of specific nursing issues such as qualitative research, with direct application for clinical practice. The guide enables nurses to: frame their clinical questions in a way that will help them find the evidence to support their opinions; distinguish between strong and weak evidence; clearly understand study results; weigh the risks and benefits of management options; and apply the evidence to their individual patients to improve outcomes. Part One provides a basic approach to the problems faced by nurses when determining optimal care, predicting patient progress, and protecting patients from potentially harmful side effects, in addition to including a literature assessment summary and management recommendations. Part Two expands on Part One, providing concrete examples through case studies. This is the only book of its kind that helps nurses use the nursing literature effectively to solve patient problems. Three-step approach to dissecting a problem - to help find the best evidence and improve patient care, most questions can be divided into three parts: (1) Are the results valid? (2) What are the results? and (3) How can I apply the results to patient care? Part One - The Basics: Using the Nursing Literature provides a basic approach to the problems faced by nurses when determining optimal care, predicting patient progress, and protecting patients from potentially harmful side effects and includes a literature assessment summary and management recommendations. Part Two - Beyond the Basics: Using and Teaching the Principles of Evidence-Based Nursing expands on Part One, providing concrete examples through the presentation of cases. Two-part organization helps both beginners and those more accomplished at using the nursing literature. Clinical Scenario provides a brief but detailed description of a clinical situation that requires the application of research through a critical thinking process. Using the Guide examines a clinical scenario, and then evaluates the way in which research findings are collected, analyzed, and applied to the resolution of the problem presented in the scenario. Free CD-ROM contains everything found in the book, allowing for electronic outlining, content filtering, full-text searching, and alternative content organizations.

As the United States devotes extensive resources to health care, evaluating how successfully the U.S. system delivers high-quality, high-value care in an equitable manner is essential. At the request of Congress, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) annually produces the National Healthcare Quality Report (NHQR) and the National Healthcare Disparities Report (NHDR). The reports have revealed areas in which health care performance has improved over time, but they also have identified major shortcomings. After five years of producing the NHQR and NHDR, AHRQ asked the IOM for guidance on how to improve the next generation of reports. The IOM concludes that the NHQR and NHDR can be improved in ways that would make them more influential in promoting change in the health care system. In addition to being sources of data on past trends, the national healthcare reports can provide more detailed insights into current performance, establish the value of closing gaps in quality and equity, and project the time required to bridge those gaps at the current pace of improvement.

The Second Edition of Health Program Planning and Evaluation will help you to systematically develop, thoughtfully implement, and rigorously evaluate health programs across a variety of health disciplines. This thorough revision includes updated examples and references throughout, reflecting the major changes within the field. This outstanding resource prepares students and professionals to become savvy consumers of evaluation reports and prudent users of evaluation consultants. It presents practical tools and concepts in language suitable for both the practicing and novice health program planner and evaluator.