Schemata for appraising economic evidence
| Type of schema and evidence to be appraised | How the schema works and the criteria used |
|---|---|
| Criteria for standardisation of methods and comparison of findings in economic evaluations | |
| Appraise cost effectiveness studies, including cost utility evaluations.71,72 | Defined a standard ‘reference case’ cost effectiveness analysis for comparison across all studies, which included consideration of societal perspective; definition and measurement of costs and outcomes; estimating effectiveness; incorporating time preference and uncertainty and presentation of results. |
| Critical appraisal checklists for economic evaluation | |
| Appraise economic evaluations in clinical setting.73,74 Appraise generic economic evaluations.75,76 | A guide for the clinical interpretation of published economic evaluations, based on 3 questions
|
| Guide the appraisal and preparation of journal articles.77,78 | Most critical appraisal criteria focus on the following: specification of decision context and perspective; measurement of costs and outcomes; adjustments for timing and uncertainty; incremental analysis; presentation of results. |
| Regulatory guidelines | |
| Appraise pharmacoeconomic submissions to governmental regulatory bodies.79–82 | Outlines recommended practice in submitting pharmacoeconomic evaluations to regulatory bodies for inclusion on subsidised pharmaceuticals list. Cover the perspective to adopt; definition and measurement of costs and outcomes; discounting and uncertainty; presentation of results to aid decision making. |
| Ethical principles of good practice for economic evaluations | |
| Appraise privately financed economic evaluations.83 | Code of conduct to govern relationship between sponsors and researchers. Called for methods to be explicit. |