Determining unit cost values for health care resources in pharmacoeconomicstudies

The purpose of pharmacoeconomics is to enhance pharmaceutical decision-maki ng within a patient population. One major and ongoing criticism decision-ma kers have about pharmacoeconomic studies is that the costs used in the stud ies don't apply to "their" environment. Obtaining cost estimates for many t ypes of commonly used health care resources can be difficult. This article reviews common and not-so-common sources of cost information within three m ain health care resource areas often involved in pharmacoeconomic evaluatio ns: pharmaceuticals, physician services, and hospitalization.