In his seminal work From Effectiveness to Efficiency: Random Reflections on Health Care, Archie Cochrane said, in 1971,

′More and more, requests for additional facilities will have to be based on detailed arguments with "hard evidence" as to the gain to be expected from the patient′s angle and the cost. Few could possibly object to this.′

These words are as true today as when they were written. Evidence–based clinical practice isolated from economic issues is not a realistic goal. Furthermore, narrow evidence–based medicine methodologies may lead to an inefficient health policy and greater inequalities in health.

Evidence–based Health Economics recognises these issues and has brought together some of the world′s leading thinkers and practitioners of economic evaluation in health care, all of whom have been involved with the "evidence–based movement", as participants, critics or both.

These experts demosntrate not only the need for the use of evidence–based principles in economic evaluation but also that such principles should themselves be based on health economics. Case studies are outlined which show how to bring economic evaluation and systematic review together and how to use such evaluations in the clinical setting. The book also shows how economics can be used to broaden the evidence base for a more efficient and equitable health policy, and sets a future research agenda for this challenging area of work.