Decisions have to be made about allocating health resources. Currently the best economic
evaluation method for doing this is cost-utility analysis. This compares the costs of different …

Despite considerable progress and achievements in health care over the last century, we
still cannot give every ill person as full a treatment as possible. With limited resources …

Resources to improve health are and always have been scarce, in the sense that health
must compete with other desirable social goals like education and personal security for …

The quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) is a measure of the value of health outcomes. Since
health is a function of length of life and quality of life, the QALY was developed as an attempt …

There are not, and probably never will be, enough resources to satisfy the community's
desires for things that improve the quality of life. This poses the necessity for choice, and …

In recent years QALYs (quality adjusted life years) have achieved considerable fame or
perhaps even notoriety in health services policy making. Yet little has been done to date to …

Quality adjusted life years (QALYs) are based on the concept that the effectiveness of a
health care programme is greater the more significant the health improvements it provides …

Cost-benefit analysis is probably the most comprehensive method of economic evaluation
available and it can be applied in two ways. The human capital approach means that the …

The allocation of health care resources has always been and will remain a contentious
issue. Classically, the arguments have been posed in terms of the “need” for health care …

Ever since the concept of value for money in health care was introduced into the NHS,
economic terms and jargon have become part of our everyday lives--but do we understand …