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What is Clinical
Economics?
Clinical economics
is founded on the principle that choices must be made among alternative
uses of limited resources, and thus decision making in the health
care arena should consider both costs and health benefits (i.e.
improvements in the health status of a target population). Clinical
economic analyses are performed primarily to assess the health
outcomes achieved with alternative health care interventions relative
to the costs involved.
Clinical economics
is not the study of cost containment; in fact, most new technologies
increase medical costs while providing additional health benefits.
Rather, the ultimate goal of clinical economic analysis is to
maximize net health benefits for all persons in a target population
given a range of health care interventions and known resource
constraints.
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