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Hospitals, primary care teams, health departments and health
purchasing agencies are faced with choices about the best way
to use limited resources to achieve their objectives. It was for
such purposes that economic evaluation methods evolved. Resources
are scarce not just in a country's economy or in our own purse,
but also in health systems and, as a consequence, for those who
are served by such systems. No matter how rich and powerful a
nation becomes, the amount of resources it devotes to health is,
and always will be, limited and in competition with other possible
uses. Economic evaluation methods are not meant to substitute the
decision-making process or be the only tool to be used in such a
process, which in any case is a complex cycle. They are only some
of the tools available and are useful in clarifying choices and
making such choices explicit. They are used to help us make best
possible use of available resources in a rational decision-making
context, when we want to accrue maximum benefits from our scarce
resources.
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