This publication focuses on the impact of health economic evaluation studies on decision-making in nine European countries (Austria, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Norway, Portugal, Spain and the Netherlands). "EUROMET 2004: The Influence of Economic Evaluation Studies on Health Care Decision-Making" reports on the results of a project called "European Network on methodology and Application of Economic Evaluation Techniques" (EUROMET). On the one hand, the study showed an increasing number of economic evaluation studies, but on the other hand the availability of data and lack of expertise were seen as special barriers which limited the use of economic evaluation studies in the decision making process. Economic evaluation studies had, before 2000, no major influence on health care decision-making in most European countries. In addition, the knowledge of health care decision makers and of professionals in payers organizations - such as health insurers, sickness funds, regional budget fund holders - was low or nearly not existing. Especially structural barriers are emphasised in this study.
The respondents believe that increasing flexibility of health care budgets from one sector to another would encourage the transferability of economic study results. "EUROMET" focuses on the question of how sensitive decision makers are to economic evaluation study results in 2004 - with special emphasis on pharmaceuticals - and to what extent they admit to base their decisions on these results.