The usefulness of economic analyses for policy support in health care

In the Netherlands economic analysis of medical technologies is increasingly recognized and used as an instrument for policy-making on different policy-levels in health care. This is mainly due to the introduction of a specific kind of medical technology assessment research, the so-called “investigative medicine.” In this type of health-care research the consequences (medical and quality of life) and the costs of a certain medical technology are usually simultaneously evaluated. Two characteristics of investigative medicine are discussed in the paper: the principle that research grants in this field are assigned to grant holders at University Hospitals and that the evaluation is often executed by means of economic analyses such as costeffectiveness analysis. He was engaged in forecasting research, manpower research and is currently involved in evaluative economic research in the field of health care. At the moment his main research activities concentrate on (computer) support of organizational change.