1. Resources are limited. You can’t have everything.
2. All choices are tradeoffs. When you choose one thing, you have to give up something else. It may be time, money, attention, or something else.
3. The Real Cost of Something is What You Give Up to Get It.* This refers to marginal costs or the additional amount paid for each addition amount of benefit you receive.
4. Rational People Think at the Margin.* A rational decision-maker takes action if and only if the marginal benefit of the action exceeds the marginal cost.
5. Your costs may differ from my costs. Costs depend on the perspective of the individual evaluating them. Costs from the patient perspective differ from those of the provider and payer perspectives.
6. Rationing occurs whenever we make a choice. People who are against health care rationing are naïve or disingenuous.
7. All costs and outcomes are probabilistic. This means that the costs and outcomes used to assess the cost benefits of medical care might be correct, but they probably are not. Always conduct sensitivity analyses.
8. The value of money typically varies from year to year. Always make certain that cost comparisons are standardized to the same year.
9. All studies are biased. You need to understand how and if it hurts your ability to use it in your practice setting.
10. Assume that most patients and clinicians are economically illiterate. Simplify your presentation of data to their ability to understand.
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