Methodologic and Reporting Quality of Economic Evaluations in Hand and Wrist Surgery: A Systematic Review

Abstract

New hand interventions constantly arise and often have greater reported effectiveness yet higher cost. 1 Economic evaluations can be used by hand surgeons, as they provide a decision-making framework on the effects of alternative interventions on health outcomes and costs. 2 Types of economic evaluations include the following: cost-utility analysis, cost-effectiveness analysis, cost-benefit analysis, and cost analysis 3 (Table 1). For a surgical technique to be deemed "cost-effective," both effectiveness and costs must be integrated into a single measure [e.g., incremental cost-utility ratio (in cost-utility analysis),