Research >> SP16 - Economic Evaluation

Economic Evaluation and Decision-analytic Modeling of Chronic Heart Failure - Project description

Background

Chronic heart failure is one of the most significant illnesses in the western industrialized countries. In addition to its medical aspects, chronic heart failure also has a sustained relevance to health economics. Due to the high prevalence of the illness and its progression, it leads – particularly because of the high costs of repeated hospitalization – to a considerable financial burden on society as a whole.

Objective

The objective of the project is to investigate the economic dimensions of chronic heart failure. The costs and cost-effectiveness of various medical interventions in the treatment of chronic heart failure that are being investigated in other subprojects of the competence network will be evaluated. For this purpose, cost and outcome assessments as well as incremental cost-effectiveness analyses for the observation period will be carried out in the other subprojects. Furthermore, the long-term clinical and economic consequences of the interventions will be determined using decision-analytic modeling.

A generic health economics questionnaire will be developed and adapted to the specific conditions of the various studies in the competence network. Based on the assessed cost and outcome parameters of these studies, cost assessments as well as a health economics-based evaluation (cost-effectiveness analysis) will be carried out for the study period. A decision-analytic Markov model in the context of the German health care system will be developed and clinical and economic data from the INH study will be incorporated in order to determine the long-term effectiveness and the incremental cost/effectiveness ratio of this strategy.

Implementation

The following measures will be determined as part of the research project entitled „Economic Evaluation and Decision-Analytic Modeling of Chronic Heart Failure“:

  1. an assessment of the costs in subprojects 7 and 9b as well in the INH study.
  2. a description of the costs of the illness based on the data from subprojects 7 and 9b.
  3. a cost-effectiveness analysis juxtaposing costs and effects as part of the INH study, including decision-analytic modeling of the long-term clinical and economic consequences.

Added value via networking

The close links between the medical collaborators and the health economists will facilitate the collection of data on the costs of the illness as well as the investigation of the issue of medical results and their cost-effectiveness.

The results of this subproject will generate substantial information regarding the costs of the illness, cost-effectiveness in treatment and the management of chronic heart failure. The recommendations derived from these results are intended to support physicians and decision-makers in the health care system in making their decisions and contribute to the efficient allocation of resources in the health care system. Thus, in addition to the scientific aspects, this project is also highly significant for health care policy.