Cost Benefit Analysis in Healthcare Descriptive

In the normal market, buyers and sellers reveal their preferences directly through their actions; goods or commodities are traded, and price and quantity signals are observed within a supply and demand curve. In health care the conditions required for perfect markets to operate are rarely met (market failure), and as a consequence health care is often provided publicly. This ensures governmental intervention in health care and the ongoing need for health economic evaluation techniques to assist in allocative decisions. There are two main techniques: CEA (Cost-Effectiveness Analysis, which includes CUA [Cost-Utility Analysis]) and CBA (Cost-Benefit Analysis). Choose from one of the below essay questions relating to applied economic evaluation in health care.

ESSAY TOPIC 1: Cost-utility analyses (CUAs) are increasingly common in Australia and around the world. How does CUA value health related benefits? Describe briefly the measures below and explain how might an assessment of the burden of disease in a population differ between these health measures. Illustrate each answer using lung cancer, mental illness (depressive disorders) and ischaemic heart disease as the disease burden in each account (ie: for each of the disease states discuss the outcomes in terms of DALY, QALY, and PYLL).

i. Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALY)

ii. Quality-Adjusted Life Years (QALY)

iii. Potential Years of Life Lost (PYLL) or Years of Potential Life Lost (YPLL)

OR

ESSAY TOPIC 2: Describe Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA). How does CBA value health-related benefits? There is growing interest in stated preference methods to elicit a willingness to pay in the health care sector. Describe briefly the methods below and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of

i. the contingent valuation (CV) method, and

ii. discrete choice experiments (DCE) (or stated preference discrete choice experiments [SPDCE]).

Answer by considering how each can be used to value a good or service that is publicly provided and contributes to human wellbeing.

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http://utas.libguides.com/healthmedicineReference Style: For this Unit only Harvard style or Vancouver style will be accepted.

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