Cost Effectiveness in Healthcare Using Social Networks

Abstract

During the last years, one open question is how the healthcare system influences the behavior of the clinicians under the cost effectiveness evaluation (Fundamentals of health economic evaluation, Lyon; Soc Sci Med 48:633–646, 1999). For that evaluation, the social network analysis could be proposed based on the cyclic network process. One main effect of that influence could be proposed the drugs costs. Healthcare evaluation is an analytical method used with increasing frequency to assist decision making in the choice in the healthcare system (Modelisation, et genstion de l’ incertitude en evalution economique des politiques sociales: le cas des politiques de sante. Ph.D. Thesis, Universite Claude Bernard Lyon 1, 2003; Commun Stat Theory Methods 38:1224–1240, 2009).

Social networks have become a powerful methodological tool based on graphical connections between characteristics (objects or peoples) considering advances statistical techniques. The connectivity between characteristics is given implementing graph theory methodologies where network analysis is taking place in behaving process. Due to this process, cyclic social networks could be used to explain the social dependences between connections, who illustrate their influence into the healthcare system. In this work, the analysis of cyclic social networks would be analyzed and their connection with the cost effectiveness evaluations would be presented.