A primer on cost-effectiveness analyses for vascular surgeons

• Published in: Journal of vascular surgery 2012-06, Vol.55 (6), p.1794-1800
• Main Authors: Barshes, Neal R., MD, MPH, Chambers, James D., PhD, MPharm, MSc, Cantor, Scott B., PhD, Cohen, Joshua, PhD, Belkin, Michael, MD
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Anesthesia. Intensive care medicine. Transfusions. Cell therapy and gene therapy; Biological and medical sciences; Cost-Benefit Analysis; Decision Support Techniques; Emergency and intensive care: renal failure. Dialysis management; Health Care Costs; Humans; Intensive care medicine; Medical sciences; Models, Economic; Quality-Adjusted Life Years; Surgery; Surgery (general aspects). Transplantations, organ and tissue grafts. Graft diseases; Treatment Outcome; Vascular surgery: aorta, extremities, vena cava. Surgery of the lymphatic vessels; Vascular Surgical Procedures - economics
• ISSN: 0741-5214; 1097-6809
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jvs.2012.02.026

The rate of growth in health care costs in the United States is simply unsustainable. In this economic climate, health care providers will increasingly be asked to justify the existence of health care programs and management strategies on an economic basis. An understanding of cost-effectiveness analyses and its components – direct and indirect costs, quality-adjusted life-years, and incremental cost-effectiveness ratios – is integral to this. We present a primer on the methodology of cost-effectiveness analyses and a review of published cost-effectiveness analyses of vascular surgery interventions with the goal of providing the vascular surgeon with a basic understanding of this topic.