TITLE:
From “Cost Analysis” to “Economic Evaluation”: An Integrative Review of Hospital Rehabilitation in Public Health
AUTHORS:
Marcos Leite da Costa, Leonardo Carnut, Celso Zilbovicius
KEYWORDS:
Cost-Effectiveness Assessment, Cost-Benefit Analysis, Rehabilitation Services, Public Health, Review, Economic Evaluation, Publications, Hospitals, Health Services
JOURNAL NAME:
Theoretical Economics Letters,
Vol.11 No.4,
July
26,
2021
ABSTRACT: The scientific literature on the use of economic
evaluation studies in health was reviewed to identify the costs related to
hospital rehabilitation in public health services and/or systems. An
integrative review was carried out on the Virtual Health Library (VHL) portal.
The search strategy was built by the hubs: economic evaluation (phenomenon);
hospital rehabilitation (population); and public health (context). Portuguese,
Spanish and English were the limit of languages used. Two independent reviewers
selected the publications using the PRISMA protocol. Data analysis was
performed using the thematic mode. 11 articles were included. The following
elements of the articles were summarized:
country, method, objective, main results, type of economic evaluation,
type of hospital rehabilitation and the context of public health systems or
services. Finally, it focused on the boundaries between “cost analysis” and “economic
evaluation” that studies used. The evidence gathered in this review allows us
to conclude that the topic is very incipient, with a low level of scientific
evidence available (levels 4 and 5). The studies range from cost analysis to
economic evaluations. All studies considered as economic evaluation are cost-effective and converge in stating that
hospital rehabilitation is cost-effective in relation to the diseases
studied in the various health systems analyzed.