ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the types of economic evaluation that exist, reviews their potential role in the care of cancer patients and discusses the important methodologic issues and unresolved problems relating to the incorporation of quality-of-life (QOL) measurements into these evaluations. All health care evaluations have the potential to include two major components. The first is an evaluation of the outcomes or consequences of the health care program. The second major component is the cost of the program being studied. Cost-minimization analysis (CMA) is the simplest type of complete economic evaluation. In CMAs the health care programs being evaluated have outcomes that have been demonstrated to be identical in all relevant aspects. Economic evaluations provide an estimate of the magnitude of the costs associated with the adoption of a new program. Utilities have several important characteristics that make them useful in economic evaluations. First, they measure QOL on a scale that is anchored by death and perfect health.
