Defining the scope and study design of cost-effectiveness analysis

Abstract This chapter offers guidance to defining the scope and study design of a cost-effectiveness analysis. As mentioned earlier, healthcare involves many stakeholders ranging from payers, to providers, to integrated health systems, to patients, and ultimately to society as a whole. Economic models can range in their measurement of costs and effectiveness depending on the perspective of these stakeholders. We will explore how these perspectives impact the design and calculation of different economic model parameters. We will also highlight basic types of economic models (i.e., decision trees and Markov chains) which are used to simulate the impacts of vaccines on different types of static or time-dependent health outcomes, as well as accumulate costs and effectiveness measures.