Seminars in Spine Surgery
Volume 21, Issue 4 , Pages 216-222, December 2009

Decision Analysis and Cost-Effectiveness Analysis

  • Hilary F. Ryder, MD

      Affiliations

    • Department of Medicine, Dartmouth Medical School, Lebanon, NH
    • Corresponding Author InformationAddress reprint requests to Hilary F. Ryder, MD, Department of Medicine, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, 1 Medical Center Drive, Lebanon, NH 03756
    • ,
  • Christene M. McDonough, PT, PhD

      Affiliations

    • Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, Dartmouth College, Lebanon, NH
    • The Health and Disability Research Institute, Boston University, Boston, MA
    • ,
  • Anna N.A. Tosteson, ScD

      Affiliations

    • Departments of Medicine and of Community and Family Medicine, Dartmouth Medical School, Lebanon, NH
    • ,
  • Jon D. Lurie, MD, MS

      Affiliations

    • Departments of Medicine and of Community and Family Medicine, Dartmouth Medical School, Lebanon, NH

Healthcare decision making can be complex, often requiring decision makers to weigh serious trade-offs, consider patients' values, and incorporate evidence in the face of uncertainty. Medical decisions are made implicitly by clinicians and other decision-makers daily. Decisions based largely on personal experience are subject to many biases. Decision analysis and cost-effectiveness analysis are systematic approaches used to support decision-making under conditions of uncertainty that involve important trade-offs. These mathematical tools can provide patients, physicians, and policy makers with a useful approach to complex medical decision making.

Keywords: decision analysis, cost-effectiveness analysis, medical decision making

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 This work was supported in-part by a grant from the National Institute for Arthritis, Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (P60-AR048094-01A1).

PII: S1040-7383(09)00068-9

doi:10.1053/j.semss.2009.08.003

Seminars in Spine Surgery
Volume 21, Issue 4 , Pages 216-222, December 2009

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