Cost and cost-effectiveness of digital mammography compared with film-screen mammography in Australia.

Objective: A systematic review assessed the relative safety and effectiveness of digital mammography compared with film-screen mammography. This study utilised the evidence from the review to examine the economic value of digital compared with film-screen mammography in Australia.

Methods: A cost-comparison analysis between the two technologies was conducted for the overall population for the purposes of breast cancer screening and diagnosis.

User choice in European health systems: towards a systematic framework for analysis.

This article proposes a systematic framework for analysis of the increasingly popular concept of user choice in European health systems. The development of such a framework is exemplified using one category of potential choice: the choice of health service provider. In the first part, the paper summarises the conceptual background of the user choice debate.

The pre-test risk stratified cost-effectiveness of 64-slice computed tomography coronary angiography in the detection of significant obstructive coronary artery disease in patients otherwise referred to invasive coronary angiography.

Background: This study evaluates the cost-effectiveness of 64-slice computed tomography coronary angiography (CTCA) as an alternative to invasive diagnostic coronary angiography (CA) in an elective outpatient setting for patients otherwise referred to invasive diagnostic coronary angiography.

Methods: Taking the perspective of the Australian health system we used a decision analytic model to integrate data on test accuracy along with complication rates, health state preference weights and health care costs. The analysis is pre-test risk stratified based on Bayes' theorem of conditional probability.