A public health strategy employed to estimate the costs of different diagnostic or treatment approaches in controlling a disease. In screening women for cervical cancer, for example, the cost effectiveness is determined by measuring the expense of the Pap smear tests against lives saved or years of life extended by detecting the presence of cancer at a stage when the condition can be corrected. More frequent testing might save more lives but the additional cost per additional life saved would rise sharply. The concept is based on the assumption that health-care resources and money should be applied to the medical procedure that would appear to be most productive.
An assessment or determination of the most efficient and least expensive approaches to providing health care and preventive medicine services. One component, health education, focuses on helping people to assume some responsibility for their own health maintenance and avoid preventable illness and disability. Accident prevention programs, immunization drives, and “safe sex” campaigns are designed to reduce the number of patients who will suffer preventable illnesses. To control costs, health care providers also must understand the comparative value of procedures and medicines.