DECISION ANALYSIS IN EVALUATING COST-EFFECTIVENESS OF HEALTH POLICIES or TREATMENT
In addition to conventional statistical tests, sophisticated cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness analysis have become popular in evaluating the impact of different health policies and medical interventions, respectively, on health economics. This is certainly true with any new drug; to be safe and effective is not enough, the new treatment must be cost-effective as well.
A powerful statistical software TreeAge 14.0 Pro is capable in making a wide variety of modeling (Markov-, Monte Carlo-, etc.) and decision analysis (Sensitivity-Cost-Effectiveness) needed by decision makers in health economics. This software has been designed to implement the techniques of decision analysis in an intuitive and easy-to-use manner. It transforms decision analysis from a potentially tedious exercise into an easily applied and highly visual means of (1) organizing the decision making process, (2) analysing the problem at hand, and (3) communicating both the structure of the problem and the basis for a decision or recommendation.
What is a decision analysis?
Using decision analysis,
a complex problem or process can be disaggregated into components small enough
to be readily understood and
analysed. These discrete components are eventually recombined to create
a model of the problem’s essential elements: the possible events
(decisions, uncertainties, and endpoints), together with the relationships
among them. This explicit identification of the sequence and linkage of
events is of great value in clarifying complex decisions.
But decision analysis,
particularly as implemented by DATA, does much more. By calculating the value
of each possible chain of events and weighting each possible outcome by its
probability, the decision maker can evaluate each
decision point in the model and identify the strategy that will maximize
utility, minimize costs, or offer the optimal balance of utility and costs.
Moreover, DATA can be used to project the expected deviations in outcomes
within an entire population, or to model the
progression of a disease over time with or without the use of its associated
therapies.
The most relevant tests used in decision analyses include
Where are decision analyses needed?
Decision analysis in medicine often involves a comparison of the benefits, risks, and costs of therapeutic and policy alternatives. The range of potential applications is extraordinarily broad. For example:
Whatever the objective or problem being modeled, TreeAge Pro
reduces the complexity of decision analysis, both in the initial stages
of formulating
and structuring
the problem and later, in calculating and testing the
elements of the analysis.
Moreover, this software is not just a tool for the sophisticated decision analyst. DATA’s clear, graphical presentation of both your model and your analysis’ results can enhance communications among all decision makers at crucial phases of the decision making process.
If you are testing a new drug or planning to develop new guidelines, a good idea would be to analyse their cost-effectiveness first. Another good idea would be to let SMW Consultants do that. We are ready to work with you in all projects of this type, where a complex process is modeled to a simple thing, using the powerful capabilities of the most sophisticated of these software, Data 4.0 Pro. Do not hesitate to present your problem to us; we can solve it together.
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SMW Consultants Ltd. Writing & Consulting Medical Research Kylliäisentie
9, FIN-21620 Kuusisto, Finland
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