Evaluating frequency, diagnostic quality, and cost of Lyme borreliosis testing in Germany: a retrospective model analysis.

Background: Data on the economic impact of Lyme borreliosis (LB) on European health care systems is scarce. This project focused on the epidemiology and costs for laboratory testing in LB patients in Germany.

Materials And Methods: We performed a sentinel analysis of epidemiological and medicoeconomic data for 2007 and 2008.

[Evaluation of cancer therapy from the perspective of a statutory health insurance].

Increasing life expectancy, the introduction of costly new drugs and contributions from the health fund which do not cover overall costs, all contribute to financial problems for statutory health insurances (SHI) in oncology. Only an evidence-based approach can help to address these problems. In a first step patient-relevant benefits have to be substantiated as a necessary prerequisite for coverage of any treatment by SHIs.

[Methods of health economic evaluation for health services research].

On August 30, 2010, the German Network for Health Services Research [Deutsches Netzwerk Versorgungsforschung e. V. (DNVF e.

[Validation of secondary data. Strengths and limitations].

Medical records databases (such as the General Practice Research Database-GPRD) and administrative databases (such as German Statutory Health Insurance (SHI) claims data) are useful sources for pharmacoepidemiology and health services research. However, these data are not primarily collected for research purposes. Validation studies are needed to examine their completeness and accuracy depending on the corresponding research question.