Economic Aspects of Cancer Screening

Abstract

Recognition that resources are limited has led to a growing concern for efficiency in the provision of health care in the UK, which has been heightened with the advent of the recent NHS reforms. Purchasing agencies, such as fundholding general practitioners, and providers, such as hospital trusts, are now expected to take on the more traditional economic roles of consumers and producers, responding to market mechanisms and improving, in the process, the efficiency of health care delivery [48]. Clinton’s health reform plan for the US takes a parallel position, whereby it is proposed that large groups of American employers act as purchasing agencies who will negotiate with insurers. They, in turn, will negotiate with doctors to find high quality care at the lowest cost [42]. It should not be surprising, therefore, to learn that the demand for economic skills has grown alongside these changes. One of the most important sets of skills that economists can offer in this context is that of economic appraisal techniques. These help decision makers (both purchasers and providers) to address three particular questions: which health care programmes are worthwhile undertaking, whether alternative configurations of the programmes, other than the existing ones, result in better value for money and how such programmes should be organised so that scarce resources are not needlessly wasted.