Challenges in economic outcomes research

In light of current pressures to limit health care expenditures, economic e valuations will continue to be conducted to help assess the value of new th erapies or treatment programs. Although guidelines for the conduct of econo mic evaluations have been proposed, it is unlikely that a standard/common m ethodology will (or should) be used. Consequently, it is important that the reader/reviewer of such analyses be aware of the potential challenges or d ifficulties when evaluating these assessments. While not providing a compre hensive list of these challenges, it is hoped that this article will serve to bring awareness to some of these challenges in the design, analysis and interpretation of these evaluations.