Ekonomické hodnocení ve zdravotnictví

Mental illnesses represent a wide range of problems and affect people in all age,socio-economic and ethnic groups. The increasing number of people being treatedfor mental illness may be associated ...

Mental illnesses represent a wide range of problems and affect people in all age,socio-economic and ethnic groups. The increasing number of people being treatedfor mental illness may be associated with a reduction in a treatment gap, i.e. witha decrease in a number of people with a mental illness who have no treatment.Mental health has been at the forefront of political interest over the last two decades,which might be partly explained by a considerable increase in societal burdenassociated with mental illnesses. Nowadays, depression is the leading causeof disability worldwide.This book has three main objectives: First, we explain the role of economic evaluationin mental health care development. Second, we describe foundations andmethods of economic evaluation and investigate how these methods can be appliedspecifically in the area of mental health care. Last, this book presents a set of casestudies illustrating the concepts and methods and depicting the state of Czechmental health care.The book proceeds in four chapters. The first one briefly introduces the topic ofmental health and its economic aspects. The second chapter considers variousaspects of health care financing: the role of public and private health financing,reimbursement mechanisms, and strategic planning in mental health policy. Thischapter further presents a case study estimating expenditures on mental healthcare in the Czech Republic. The third chapter introduces key concepts of economicevaluation and illustrates a process ofunit costs calculation by another case study.Finally, the fourth chapter describes selected quantitative methods of economicevaluation and presents original Czech examples of their practical use in mentalhealth care.