Determining unit cost values for health care resources in pharmacoeconomic studies

The purpose of pharmacoeconomics is to enhance pharmaceutical decision-making within a patient population. One major and ongoing criticism decision-makers have about pharmacoeconomic studies is that the costs used in the studies don't apply to "their" environment. Obtaining cost estimates for many types of commonly used health care resources can be difficult. This article reviews common and not-so-common sources of cost information within three main health care resource areas often involved in pharmacoeconomic evaluations: pharmaceuticals, physician services, and hospitalization.