Do the Elderly get Value for Money?

The euros and sense of stents: do we get value for money?

Stents have become a cornerstone of the management of coronary disease. In the ‘90s it was shown that as compared to balloon angioplasty, stents offered better outcomes for patients at a reasonable extra cost. (Meads et al, 2000) Compared to surgery the situation is different and depends largely on the target population. In patients with diabetes or patients with multivessel disease CABG is mor...

Do you get value for money when you buy an expensive pair of running shoes?

OBJECTIVE This investigation aims to determine if more expensive running shoes provide better cushioning of plantar pressure and are more comfortable than low-cost alternatives from the same brand. METHODS Three pairs of running shoes were purchased from three different manufacturers at three different price ranges: low (40-45 pounds), medium (60-65 pounds) and high (70-75 pounds). Plantar pr...

Value for Money

Pharmaceutical research and development: what do we get for all that money?

Since the early 2000s, industry leaders, observers, and policy makers have been declaring that there is an innovation crisis in pharmaceutical research. A 2002 front page investigation by the Wall Street Journal reported, “In laboratories around the world, scientists on the hunt for new drugs are coming up dry . . . The $400 billion a year drug industry is suddenly in serious trouble.” Four yea...

Can We Get Better Value for Money in Long-term Care?

It is well established that ageing populations will lead to increases in the demand for services in the years to come, thereby putting upward pressure on total expenditure on formal long-term care (LTC) systems in a context where large spending items such as pensions and health are also expected to grow. This may well create pressure on governments to ensure that spending in the sector is well ...