Current Situation and Deficiencies of Economics Evaluation for Pediatric Therapeutic Regime in China / 中国药房

OBJECTIVE： To provide reference for improving the economics evaluation studies for pediatric therapeutic regime in China. METHODS： By searching the literature published in domestic journals from Jan. 1st， 2009 to Dec. 31th， 2018， the current situation of the measurement of cost （including time range， cost calculation） and health output （including outcome indicators and measurement scales） were explored. Combined with relevant literature at home and abroad， the deficiencies of economics evaluation for pediatric therapeutic regime in terms of cost measurement and health outcome measurement were summarized in China， and the corresponding research prospects were put forward. RESULTS & CONCLUSIONS： Totally 140 related literatures were finally included. In terms of cost measurement， short-term （≤1 year） research accounted for the highest proportion （109 literatures， 77.86％）. Cost calculation mostly had no clear research perspective （125 literatures， 89.29％）. It did not involve the cost of child productivity. The main shortcomings were unclear time range， incomplete cost calculation （lack of productivity， hidden cost） and so on. In terms of health output measurement， 103 （73.57％） used cost-effectiveness analysis， 23 （16.43％） used cost-benefit analysis， and only 4 （2.86％） related to the use of measurement scales. Main shortcomings included that the difficulty in obtaining outcome indicators， lack of child health output measurement scale and so on. Based on this， it is suggested that related demands should be complied before conducting economics evaluation research， we should clarify the research angle， formulate unified and standardized cost measurement methods， rationally select technical analysis methods and health outflow indicators according to research purposes and disease characteristics， and develop appropriate measurement scales according to the physiological and psychological characteristics of children in different age groups. At the same time， future studies can report on the status of family members when reporting on children's related conditions， and conduct an economic evaluation of therapeutic regimen in the family unit.

Promoting hepatitis B elimination and laying emphasis on its economics evaluation / 中华流行病学杂志

WHO has developed and issued global hepatitis B elimination program.Continuing hepatitis B immunization and conducting community based antiviral treatment for chronic hepatitis B are the most important strategies for hepatitis B elimination.According to the estimation of related cost by WHO,the cost of antiviral therapy would be very high.Great achievement has been made in hepatitis B immunization in China,but the prevalence of chronic hepatitis B is high.Elimination of hepatitis B needs a large amount of public resource,posing serious challenge to public health policy making.Economics research on hepatitis B prevention and treatment can provide evidence and technical support for hepatitis B elimination.In this column “Economic evaluations of hepatitis B”,the related articles in this issue summarize the progress in this research field,which is inspiring and encouraging.

Promoting hepatitis B elimination and laying emphasis on its economics evaluation / 中华流行病学杂志

WHO has developed and issued global hepatitis B elimination program.Continuing hepatitis B immunization and conducting community based antiviral treatment for chronic hepatitis B are the most important strategies for hepatitis B elimination.According to the estimation of related cost by WHO,the cost of antiviral therapy would be very high.Great achievement has been made in hepatitis B immunization in China,but the prevalence of chronic hepatitis B is high.Elimination of hepatitis B needs a large amount of public resource,posing serious challenge to public health policy making.Economics research on hepatitis B prevention and treatment can provide evidence and technical support for hepatitis B elimination.In this column “Economic evaluations of hepatitis B”,the related articles in this issue summarize the progress in this research field,which is inspiring and encouraging.

El ámbito de la evaluación económica de intervenciones de salud / The scope of economic evaluation of healthcare interventions

The World Health Organization (WHO) has contributed to the conceptualization of a Health System stating that it has three main objectives and four functions. The main objective is Health Status, measured in Disability Adjusted Life Expectancy (DALE).The others two are Responsiveness to the people’s Non-Medical Expectations and Equity in Financing. This last is a specific indicator of economic nature. Economics has an increasing role in the health systems and the recognition of this component by actors in health services is more and more important every day. Medical professionals need to understand its meaning and relevance in many senses of medical care. Economic evaluations, mainly cost-effectiveness of health programs and socio-sanitary interventions are more complex to carry out than common social evaluations, whose context is more restricted.When formulating modern health policies, the declared objective is always the improvement and quality of healthcare. Nevertheless, in recent years policy makers have insisted in the need to secure economic rationality of interventions, both inside the program, thus achieving internal technical efficiency, as towards the whole society achieving allocative efficiency. When the purpose is to evaluate health programs, economic evaluation integrates costs with effectiveness and considers the epidemiologic profle and social preferences. The priority setting included in the Health Guarantees Plan (AUGE or GES) established by the Chilean Ministry of Health in 2005 is a clear example of a process of Health Technology Assessment , where cost-effectiveness studies were used to set the program and establish priorities. This is the frst in a series of papers related to economic evaluation of healthcare in-terventions. This paper aims to contribute to the development of this feld, providing basic concepts and its main applications to health care in Chile.

La Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS) ha contribuido a la conceptualiza-ción de lo que es un sistema de salud, en el cual integra tres objetivos y cuatro funciones. El objetivo principal es la salud, la cual es medida con el indicador Expectativa de Vida Ajustada por Discapacidad (EVAD), los otros dos son Capacidad de Respuesta a las Expectativas No Medicas y la Equidad o Justicia Financiera. Esta última es una condición explícita de carácter económico. La economía tiene un papel creciente en los sistemas de salud y es importante que los actores principales del sistema, los profesionales médicos, estén al tanto de ello y logren comprender su dimensión. Las evaluaciones económicas, principalmente las de costo-efectividad de los programas de salud e intervenciones socio-sanitarias siguen siendo más complejas de realizar que las evaluaciones en otras áreas sociales, cuyo contexto es más restringido o específico. En la formulación de políticas de salud modernas, el objetivo declarado es siempre el de mejorar la calidad de los cuidados y de la atención médica. Sin embargo, ahora se hace insistiendo en que uno de los componentes esenciales de la calidad es la racionalidad económica de las intervenciones, tanto internas al propio programa, logrando eficiencia técnica, como al conjunto de la sociedad logrando eficiencia distributiva. Cuando se trata de evaluar Tecnologías Sanitarias, uno de sus componentes es la evaluación económica que integra costos con efectividad clínica y considera el perfilepidemiológico y las preferencias sociales. Estás últimas se pueden incorporar a través de la valoración de los estados de salud (en “outcomes” como Quality-Adjusted Life-Years -QALY) y en el uso de una tasa de descuento social. La determinación de las condiciones de salud incluidas en el Plan de Garantías en Salud (AUGE o GES) es un ejemplo de un proceso de Evaluación de Tecnologías Sanitarias (ETESA). En dicho proceso se hizo una aproximación a incluir explícitamente la evaluación económica, a través de los estudios de costo-efectividad, en la priorización para determinar las condiciones de salud que se integrarían al plan. Este es el primero de una serie de artículos sobre el ámbito de la evaluación económica de intervenciones de salud la que pretende entregar a la comunidad médica un conjunto de contenidos que dan luces sobre el desarrollo de la disciplina y sus conceptos principales, a la vez que sus aplicaciones posibles a las actividades de la salud en nuestro país.