| Comparing
Marginal and Incremental Analysis
There is a subtle but
important difference between marginal and incremental cost-effectiveness.
- Marginal cost-effectiveness
refers to the change in costs and health benefits from a one-unit
expansion or contraction of service from a particular health
care intervention (e.g. an extra day in the hospital or an extra
dose of medication per day).
- Incremental cost-effectiveness
represents the change in costs and health benefits when one
health care intervention is compared to an alternative one (e.g.
outpatient surgery vs. short-stay surgery).
| Types
of analysis
| Considers
the differences in costs and health benefits...
|
|---|
| Marginal
cost-effectiveness | ...within
a given alternative |
| Incremental
cost-effectiveness | ...between
alternatives |
|
Average cost-effectiveness
ratios do not compare the costs and outcomes among health care
alternatives, but instead reflect the cost per outcome of one
alternative independent of other alternatives.
For meaningful comparison
in clinical economics, marginal and incremental analyses of costs
and health outcomes are performed.
|