Medical Decision Making: A Health Economic Primer

This textbook combines test information theory with expected utility theory to analyze medical decision-making under uncertainty. It demonstrates how to use Bayes theorem to combine health state value functions with risk preferences to arrive at informed test and treatment decisions. It covers risk-neutral, risk-averse, and prudent decision-makers, individual and multiple tests, diagnostic models, quality-adjusted life years, and non-expected utility models. The third edition includes revised chapters and focuses on health economics and revealed preferences. It is intended for students, medical decision-makers, and physicians.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 316 pages
Publication date: 06 April 2023
Publisher: Springer-Verlag Berlin and Heidelberg GmbH & Co. KG

This comprehensive textbook delves into the intricate realm of medical decision-making under uncertainty, seamlessly integrating test information theory with expected utility theory. The authors elucidate how the parameters of Bayes' theorem can be harmonized with a value function of health states, enabling informed test and treatment choices in the face of diagnostic and therapeutic risks. By distinguishing between risk-neutral, risk-averse, and prudent decision-makers, they shed light on the profound impact of risk preferences on medical decisions. Furthermore, they analyze individual and multiple tests, as well as diagnostic models where the decision-maker selects the test outcome. The consequences of these decisions for the patient are encompassed by quality-adjusted life years (QALYs), a measure of health outcomes, and the standard economic model, which employs the willingness-to-pay for health approach. Additionally, non-expected utility models of choice under risk and uncertainty are presented, offering valuable insights into certain test and treatment choices. While these models can explain certain observed decisions, they may not be as suitable for normative analyses aimed at providing guidance on medical decision-making.

This third edition boasts extensively revised chapters, reflecting the latest advancements in medical decision-making. New chapters delve into the health economics of medical decisions and revealed preferences, providing valuable perspectives for students of (health) economics and medicine, as well as medical decision-makers and physicians grappling with uncertainty in their test and treatment choices.

Weight: 522g
Dimension: 235 x 155 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9783662646564
Edition number: 3rd ed. 2022