Element card for assessment element E0003 in HTA Core Model Application for Diagnostic Technologies (1.1) application

E. Costs and economic evaluation

Unit costs

What are the unit costs of the resources used when delivering the assessed technology and its comparators?

Core

Ideally unit cost estimates should be (proxies for) opportunity costs. By the opportunity cost is understood the (lost) health gains that could have been achieved from an alternative technology, which, however, cannot be introduced or retained, because the resources e.g. manpower, are used on the new technology. Market prices are often used as proxies for opportunity costs.

Market prices, companies, hospital accounting systems, reimbursement databases, micro level costing studies/ABC-costing studies

Critical
None

Guidelines for economic evaluation of Health Technologies: Canada, 3rd edition, 2006, Guidelines for Pharmacoeconomic. Evaluations in Belgium, 2008.