Abstract
Objective
Decision-analytical modelling is widely used in health-care economic evaluations, especially in situations where evaluators lack clinical trial data, and in circumstances where such evaluations factor into reimbursement pricing decisions. This paper aims to improve the understanding and use of modelling techniques in this context, with particular emphasis on Markov modelling.
Methods
We provide an overview, in this paper, of the principles and methodological details of decision-analytical modelling. We propose a common route for practicing modelling that accommodates any type of decision-analytical modelling techniques. We use the treatment of chronic hepatitis B as an example to indicate the process of development, presentation and analysis of the Markov model, and discuss the strengths, weaknesses and pitfalls of different approaches.
Conclusions
Good practice of modelling requires careful planning, conduct and analysis of the model, and needs input from modellers and users.
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Acknowledgements
We are grateful to two anonymous reviewers for the helpful comments. We also thank Mike Clarke from the University of Oxford for kind provision of a place for Sun to conduct work on this paper.
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Sun, X., Faunce, T. Decision-analytical modelling in health-care economic evaluations. Eur J Health Econ 9, 313–323 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10198-007-0078-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10198-007-0078-x