Cost-Minimization Analysis

Cost-minimization analysis is a special form of cost-effectiveness analysis where the health outcomes can be considered to be equivalent between two treatment alternatives and therefore the interest is only on which of the two strategies has the lower cost. Cost-minimization analysis appears to have much to commend it: in particular, it embodies an apparently simplified approach to decision making by looking at only the cost side of the equation. However, there are a number of potential pitfalls that exist in terms of the practical use of cost-minimization analysis.

The first of these represents a problem of definition. Many apparent examples of cost-minimization studies fail to present any justification of the equivalence of health outcomes between two treatments and are therefore more accurately described as cost ...

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