218 - Introduction to Cost-Effectiveness Analysis

CEA is becoming an increasingly important input into health policy decisions; however, the methodology does have limitations. CEA cannot incorporate all aspects of a decision, and the results are only as good as the data available to input into the analyses. Economic analyses such as CEA cannot capture every input necessary to make health care decisions and should not be reported as scientific fact, but models and their results may be reported as aids in decision making. An additional criticism of CEA is that although the economic models have become increasingly complex to better represent reality, they have also become increasingly opaque to the lay reader, thus making it difficult for those without a background in economics to personally interpret the results. Despite these limitations, CEA offers the benefit of adding perspective to difficult questions regarding treatment choices in the setting of limited resources. If emergency physicians are to act as decision makers in our changing practice environment, it is essential to have an understanding of the basic principles of CEA.