Biomaterial Database

Cost-benefit analysis: a helpful tool for decision makers? 1985

R H Dinkel

Cost-benefit analyses (CBA) claim to be an important basis for decision makers who are interested in a cost-effective approach to health care. But despite an increasing frequency in the number of CBA there is growing concern about their usefulness as a decision-making tool. Predominantly methodological controversies spread confusion and block their user-oriented development. The present article identifies and discusses necessary amendments of CBA from a practical point of view to narrow the existing gap between claim and actual efficiency: consideration of differing interests of differing parties in the health care sector, inclusion of qualitative aspects of medical events and a change in the temporal orientation towards prospective studies.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D003362	Cost-Benefit Analysis	A method of comparing the cost of a program with its expected benefits in dollars (or other currency). The benefit-to-cost ratio is a measure of total return expected per unit of money spent. This analysis generally excludes consideration of factors that are not measured ultimately in economic terms. In contrast a cost effectiveness in general compares cost with qualitative outcomes.	Cost and Benefit,Cost-Benefit Data,Benefits and Costs,Cost Benefit,Cost Benefit Analysis,Cost-Utility Analysis,Costs and Benefits,Economic Evaluation,Marginal Analysis,Analyses, Cost Benefit,Analysis, Cost Benefit,Analysis, Cost-Benefit,Analysis, Cost-Utility,Analysis, Marginal,Benefit and Cost,Cost Benefit Analyses,Cost Benefit Data,Cost Utility Analysis,Cost-Benefit Analyses,Cost-Utility Analyses,Data, Cost-Benefit,Economic Evaluations,Evaluation, Economic,Marginal Analyses
D003657	Decision Making	The process of making a selective intellectual judgment when presented with several complex alternatives consisting of several variables, and usually defining a course of action or an idea.	Credit Assignment,Assignment, Credit,Assignments, Credit,Credit Assignments
D005060	Europe	The continent north of AFRICA, west of ASIA and east of the ATLANTIC OCEAN.	Northern Europe,Southern Europe,Western Europe
D006295	Health Resources	Available manpower, facilities, revenue, equipment, and supplies to produce requisite health care and services.	Resources,Health Resource,Resource,Resource, Health,Resources, Health
D006761	Hospitals	Institutions with an organized medical staff which provide medical care to patients.	Hospital
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man