The status of health economic evaluation within decision making in Austria

BACKGROUND: Given limited resources compared to the demand for them, spending resources efficiently is important. Key methods applied for supporting efficient resource allocation are health economic evaluations. METHODS: Based on secondary literature, we analyze international challenges for using two types of economic evaluations—cost-effectiveness analysis and cost-utility analysis—in reimbursement decisions and reflect on them for the Austrian case. RESULTS: The main challenges with the application of economic evaluations are related to the methods, the decision-making culture, and the respective system. The challenges also apply to the Austrian Bismarck system, where almost no formal requirements for using economic evaluations exist, except on a case-by-case basis. Resource allocation in Austria hence occurs, for the most part, implicitly. CONCLUSION: One way forward towards more explicit efficiency considerations may be to consider more descriptive study types and foster capacity building, standardization of methods and presentation of results, and a mandatory detailed guideline.