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Cost-Effectiveness Analysis

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Mental Health Economics

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Abstract

Economic evaluation of healthcare programs seeks to compare treatments and preventive measures in terms of their efficiency, that is, their ability to generate health and well-being relative to the costs incurred. This chapter provides an introduction to one particular but widely used evaluation technique: cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA). We present the main conceptual elements of a CEA, measurement techniques that are used, and the challenges and limitations, and we discuss the final interpretation of results within the context of the mental health field.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Strictly speaking, the “marginal” value of a variable is its rate of change (first derivative) with respect to quantity. This is equivalent to the formula provided if Q is sufficiently large.

  2. 2.

    Note that when we are evaluating only one intervention and the comparator intervention is the “do nothing” scenario, the ICER is the same as the ACER.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Social Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK

    Jeroen Luyten

  2. Leuven Institute for Healthcare Policy, KULeuven, Kapucijnenvoer 35, 3000, Leuven, Belgium

    Jeroen Luyten

  3. Personal Social Services Research Unit (PSSRU), London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK

    Catherine Henderson

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  1. Jeroen Luyten
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  2. Catherine Henderson
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Correspondence to Jeroen Luyten .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Centre of Economic Mental Health, Department of Psychiatry, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

    Denise Razzouk

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Luyten, J., Henderson, C. (2017). Cost-Effectiveness Analysis. In: Razzouk, D. (eds) Mental Health Economics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-55266-8_5

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