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OBJECTIVE: To develop consensus-based recommendations guiding the of cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) to improve the comparability and of studies. The recommendations apply to analyses intended to inform allocation of health care resources across a broad range of conditions and. This article, first in a 3-part series, discusses how this affects the conduct and use of analyses. The remaining articles will methodological and reporting recommendations, respectively.: The Panel on Cost-Effectiveness in Health and Medicine, a panel with expertise in CEA, clinical medicine, ethics, and health measurement, was convened by the US Public Health Service (PHS).: The panel reviewed the theoretical foundations of CEA, current, and alternative procedures for measuring and assigning values to use and health outcomes. CONSENSUS PROCESS: The panel met 11 times 2 1/2 years with PHS staff and methodologists from federal agencies. groups brought issues and preliminary recommendations to the full for discussion. Draft recommendations were circulated to outside experts the federal agencies prior to finalization. CONCLUSIONS: The panel's define a "reference case" cost-effectiveness analysis, a set of methods to serve as a point of comparison across studies. The case analysis is conducted from the societal perspective and for benefits, harms, and costs to all parties. Although CEA does not every element of importance in health care decisions, the information provides is critical to informing decisions about the allocation of health resources.
Russell et al. (Mon,) studied this question.