Citation

Pinkerton SD, Johnson-Masotti AP, Derse A, Layde PM. Eval. Program Plann. 2002; 25(1): 71-83.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2002, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/S0149-7189(01)00050-7

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Cost-effectiveness analysis provides important information about the economic efficiency of health-related programs that can help health care decision makers choose between competing alternatives. Ethical concerns (such as equity and other issues of fairness) are critical to any discussion of health care resource allocation, as are the political and societal context in which such decisions are made and implemented. Here, we present an overview of ethical and other concerns raised by the use of cost-effectiveness analysis in health care resource allocation decision-making. We review the philosophical and theoretical foundations of cost-effectiveness analysis and describe some of the ethical assumptions and implications that are embedded in, and result from, the use of this economic analysis technique. Finally, we consider how the social and political context of health-related decision affects the usefulness of the results derived from cost-effectiveness analyses.