New methods of analysing cost effectiveness

Interest in whether health interventions are value for money as well as effective has meant that the term cost effectiveness 1 is commonly used (and sometimes misused) in the clinical literature. Consequently, methods for determining cost effectiveness have been refined, especially techniques for synthesising evidence and representing uncertainty in the results of such evaluations. Techniques such as multi-parameter evidence synthesis 2 and value of information analysis 3 are now routinely integrated into cost effectiveness studies, especially health technology appraisals (HTAs) conducted for the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence. But is there real value in the development and application of such techniques, or have these new methods emerged simply as a consequence of involving academics in the process of evaluation?

Colbourn and colleagues present a cost effectiveness and value of information analysis of strategies for preventing group B streptococcal and other bacterial infections in early infancy. 4 This is a timely assessment of the potential cost effectiveness of various ways of organising a national screening programme for group B streptococci, which has the potential to influence UK policy on whether (and how) to implement such a screening programme. However, what do the sophisticated techniques used add to what we already know about the effectiveness and cost effectiveness of preventive...