Objectives To assess international comparability of general cost of illness (COI) studies and to examine the extent to which COI estimates differ and why.Methods Five general COI studies were examined. COI estimates were classified by health provider using the system of health accounts (SHA)....

This discussion paper resulted in an article in the <I>Journal of Health Economics</I> (2013). Volume 32, pages 88-105.<P> Explanations of growth in health expenditures have restricted attention to the mean. We explain change throughout the distribution of expenditures, providing insight into how growth...</p></i>

The use of long‐term care (LTC) is changing rapidly. In the Netherlands, rates of institutional LTC use are falling, whereas homecare use is growing. Are these changes attributable to declining disability rates, or has LTC use given disability changed? And have institutionalization rates...

When entering the market, orphan drugs are associated with substantial prices and a high degree of uncertainty regarding safety and effectiveness. This makes decision making about the reimbursement of these drugs a complex exercise. To advance on this, the Dutch government introduced a...

Considerations beyond cost-effectiveness are important in reimbursement decision making. We assessed the importance of disease severity in drug reimbursement decision making in Belgium, France, The Netherlands and Sweden. We investigated scientific literature and policy documents and conducted...

<Emphasis Type="Bold">Background: When guidelines for health economic evaluations prescribe that a societal perspective should be adopted, productivity costs should be included. However, previous research suggests that, in practice, productivity costs are often neglected. This may considerably bias the results of...</emphasis>

<Emphasis Type="Bold">Background: Regulatory requirements for the pharmaceutical industry have become increasingly demanding with respect to the safety and effectiveness of drugs. <Emphasis Type="Bold">Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the willingness to pay (WTP), of both the Dutch general public and dialysis...</emphasis></emphasis>

Both countries publish drug reimbursement information. Therapeutic value appears to be the most decisive criterion; the relative importance of full economic evaluations is more modest than would generally be expected, especially in The Netherlands. Although the assessment process is reasonably...