A systematic review of modelling approaches in economic evaluations of health interventions for drug and alcohol problems.

Background: The overarching goal of health policies is to maximize health and societal benefits. Economic evaluations can play a vital role in assessing whether or not such benefits occur. This paper reviews the application of modelling techniques in economic evaluations of drug and alcohol interventions with regard to (i) modelling paradigms themselves; (ii) perspectives of costs and benefits and (iii) time frame.

The National Perinatal Depression Initiative: An evaluation of access to general practitioners, psychologists and psychiatrists through the Medicare Benefits Schedule.

Objective: To evaluate the impact of the National Perinatal Depression Initiative on access to Medicare services for women at risk of perinatal mental illness.

Method: Retrospective cohort study using difference-in-difference analytical methods to quantify the impact of the National Perinatal Depression Initiative policies on Medicare Benefits Schedule mental health usage by Australian women giving birth between 2006 and 2010. A random sample of women of reproductive age enrolled in Medicare who had not given birth where used as controls.

Hospital costs of multiple-birth and singleton-birth children during the first 5 years of life and the role of assisted reproductive technology.

Importance: The unprecedented increase in multiple births during the past 3 decades is a major public health concern and parallels the uptake of medically assisted conception. The economic implications of such births are not well understood.

Objectives: To conduct a comprehensive economic and health services assessment of the frequency, duration, and cost of hospital admissions during the first 5 years of life for singleton, twin, and higher-order multiple (HOM) children and to examine the contribution of assisted reproductive technology (ART) to the incidence and cost of multiple births.

The impact of consumer affordability on access to assisted reproductive technologies and embryo transfer practices: an international analysis.

Objective: To systematically quantify the impact of consumer cost on assisted reproduction technology (ART) utilization and numbers of embryos transferred.

Design: Ordinary least squared (OLS) regression models were constructed to measure the independent impact of ART affordability-measured as consumer cost relative to average disposable income-on ART utilization and embryo transfer practices.

Setting: Not applicable.

What can we learn from a decade of promoting safe embryo transfer practices? A comparative analysis of policies and outcomes in the UK and Australia, 2001-2010.

Study Question: Given similar socio-demographic profiles and costs of healthcare, why has Australia been significantly more successful than the UK in reducing the assisted reproductive technology (ART) multiple birth rate?

Summary Answer: The Australian model of supportive public ART funding, permissive clinical guidelines and an absence of published clinic league tables has enabled Australian fertility specialists to act collectively to achieve rapid and widespread adoption of single embryo transfer (SET).

What Is Known Already: There are striking differences in ART utilization and clinical practice between Australia and the UK. The ART multiple birth rate in Australia is <8% compared with slightly <20% in the UK.

A reduction in public funding for fertility treatment--an econometric analysis of access to treatment and savings to government.

Background: Almost all assisted reproductive technology (ART) and intrauterine insemination (IUI) treatments performed in Australia are subsidized through the Australian Government's universal insurance scheme, Medicare. In 2010 restrictions on the amount Medicare paid in benefits for these treatments were introduced, increasing patient out-of-pocket payments for fresh and frozen embryo ART cycles and IUI. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of the policy on access to treatment, savings in Medicare benefits and the number of ART conceived children not born.