Health economic decision-making: a comparison between UK and Spain.

OBJECTIVE: This review examines the impact of economic evaluation in informing national or local policies within both jurisdictions. We focus on the factors that have made the economic evaluation evolves differently in both settings. AREAS OF AGREEMENT: Economic evaluation facilitates decision-making regarding the efficiency of interventions. The existence of national or local bodies regulating the process has contributed to increasing its use in decision-making and the development of its methods. AREAS OF CONTROVERSY: Cost-effectiveness approach is based on the assumption of health maximization subject to a budget constraint. Decision-makers are not only interested in health maximization alone. This may result in policy-makers failing to consider economic evaluations into their allocation decisions. AREAS TO DEVELOP RESEARCH: Methods that incorporate wider decision-makers goals (mainly local) and research to study the real impact of economic evaluation in terms of improved efficiency and equity are particularly required.