Economic evidence in practice guidelines for medications: results of a ‘quick scan’
The present paper examined the extent to which guidelines of medical specialists and general practitioners with respect to the five most important medications by means of expenditures in 2007 consider cost effectiveness. Most guidelines pay only limited attention to economic evidence. The guidelines on cardiovascular risk management and anxiety disorders are the only guidelines which systematically regard cost effectiveness of medications. Little or no attention for economic evidence does not necessarily lead to wrong recommendations. For example, the guidelines on stomach complaints and asthma hardly consider economic evidence. Nevertheless, the recommendations of these guidelines are in agreement with the conclusions in the literature regarding cost-effectiveness. Economic evaluations may be used to support recommendations or differentiate between specific subgroup of patients. Appointing an economic expert to guideline development committees could allow for the quality of the economic evaluations and their applicability to the Dutch setting to be assessed. The economic expert could contribute to the integration of economic considerations in guidelines of medical specialists and general practitioners.
Keywords: Guidelines, Medication, Evaluation, Cost effectiveness, Quick Scan