Contemporary health care economics: an overview

Economic evaluations provide a decision-making framework in which outcomes (benefits) and costs are assessed for various alternative options. Although the interest in complete and partial economic evaluations has increased over the past 2 decades, the quality of studies has been marginal due to methodological challenges or incomplete cost determination. This paper provides an overview of the main types of complete and partial economic evaluations, reviews key methodological elements to be considered for any economic evaluation, and reviews concepts of cost determination. The goal is to provide the clinician neurosurgeon with the knowledge and tools needed to appraise published economic evaluations and to direct high-quality health economic evaluations.