Age related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of blindness in the United Kingdom and the rest of the western world. It occurs in 15% to 30% of individuals over 75 years of age. About 15% of these patients develop a more aggressive wet form of the disease that causes severe loss of...

Integrated care is often perceived as a solution for some of the major challenges faced by health and social care systems. In these systems, 20% of the population accounts for 80% of the expenditure on care [1]. These ‘high users’ are typically people with one or more long-term...

Approximately 17.5% of all pregnancies in England are induced. Induction of labour may be required for several reasons. These include hypertension, intra-uterine growth retardation, diabetes, poor weight profile of the mother and prolonged pregnancy. The two principle methods used to induce...

Although economic evaluation in health care has a long-standing tradition in the United Kingdom, very little is known about its impact on decision making, particularly following the introduction of the internal market. Since managed competition appears to be growing in popularity worldwide, the...

In this paper we assess the current state of the art of economic appraisal of health technologies in the United Kingdom. The paper is organised along the lines suggested in the Workshop proposal. Although the main interest of the Workshop is in 'high' technology, such as imaging techniques and...

In the summer of 1990, the Australian government took a major step by requiring evidence of cost-effectiveness of new medicines prior to reimbursement by the public health care system. This paper assesses whether the methodological principles behind the guidelines are sound and whether they...