Title
Challenges in building disease-based national health accounts
UMMS Affiliation
Department of Quantitative Health Sciences
Date
6-19-2009
Document Type
Article
Medical Subject Headings
Chronic Disease; Cost of Illness; Data Collection; *Health Care Costs; *Health Expenditures; Health Services Research; Humans; Medicare; *Models, Econometric; United States
Disciplines
Biostatistics | Epidemiology | Health Services Research
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Measuring spending on diseases is critical to assessing the value of medical care.
OBJECTIVE: To review the current state of cost of illness estimation methods, identifying their strengths, limitations, and uses. We briefly describe the current National Health Expenditure Accounts, and then go on to discuss the addition of cost of illness estimation to the National Health Expenditure Accounts.
CONCLUSION: Recommendations are made for future research aimed at identifying the best methods for developing and using disease-based national health accounts to optimize the information available to policy makers as they struggle with difficult resource allocation decisions.
Rights and Permissions
Citation: Med Care. 2009 Jul;47(7 Suppl 1):S7-13. Link to article on publisher's site
