John Nixon

The University of York Alumni

Paradigms that are innate to all human beings, and those formed from models in the natural and social sciences, guide our conscious thoughts, beliefs and actions. The thesis of the author is that ‘asymmetrical paradigms,’ which he defines, are projected by the media, interest groups and political stakeholders for their own ends using partial eviden...

Contact References • Calculate the financial costs of the delivery project over a 3 year period • Calculate the economic costs of the project • Estimate the cost-effectiveness of the programme compared to no intervention • Explore how the costs and cost-effectiveness estimates will vary with differences in costs and effectiveness estimates • Make r...

Social and national health insurance schemes are being introduced in many developing countries in moving towards universal health care. However, gaps in coverage are common and can only be met by out-of-pocket payments, general taxation, or private health insurance (PHI). This study provides an overview of PHI in different health care systems and d...

Background Nigeria and Ghana have recently introduced a National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) with the aim of moving towards universal health care using more equitable financing mechanisms. This study compares health and economic indicators, describes the structure of each country’s NHIS within the wider healthcare system, and analyses impacts on...

We conducted a systematic review to assess the (cost)effectiveness of spinal cord stimulation (SCS) in relieving certain kinds of pain for people with chronic pain owing to failed back surgery syndrome (FBSS). We considered randomized trials, controlled observational studies of adult patients with chronic pain owing to FBSS, and case series with at...

The structure and methods to complete and derive a quality score from the European Network of Health Economic Evaluation Databases (EURONHEED) transferability information checklists for published economic evaluations were reported and discussed in a previous paper (Boulenger et al. in Eur J Health Econ 6, 334-346, 2005). Within the same paper, the...

To determine the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of height screening (of children aged 4 to 11) to identify height-related conditions. Systematic review and economic modelling. We included published and unpublished screening studies of any design, except case reports, conducted in any setting that measured children's height as part of a popula...

Use of evidence on clinical effectiveness that is of poor quality or is biased in favour of the therapy under study is a concern in economic evaluations and may contribute to a mistrust of pharmacoeconomic studies. This study aimed to determine whether the authors of economic evaluations use the best available evidence for clinical effectiveness. O...

To clarify the role of growth monitoring in primary school children, including obesity, and to examine issues that might impact on the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of such programmes. Electronic databases were searched up to July 2005. Experts in the field were also consulted. Data extraction and quality assessment were performed on studies...

Population monitoring has been introduced in UK primary schools in an effort to track the growing obesity epidemic. It has been argued that parents should be informed of their child's results, but is there evidence that moving from monitoring to screening would be effective? We describe what is known about the effectiveness of monitoring and screen...

Given the need to assess the value for money of healthcare treatments, economic evaluation has been gaining popularity over the past ten years. Studies comparing the costs and consequences of alternative healthcare interventions have been published in all fields of healthcare. This article describes the basic forms of economic evaluation and outlin...

To determine the most effective diagnostic strategy for the investigation of microscopic and macroscopic haematuria in adults. Electronic databases from inception to October 2003, updated in August 2004. A systematic review was undertaken according to published guidelines. Decision analytic modelling was undertaken, based on the findings of the rev...

The relationship between health care expenditure and health outcomes is of interest to policy makers in the light of steady increases in health care spending for most industrialised countries. However, establishing causal relationships is complex because, firstly, health care expenditure is only one of many quantitative and qualitative factors that...

Several commentators have identified the lack of generalisability and transferability of economic evaluation results. The aims of this study were: (a) to develop a checklist to assess the level of generalisability and transferability of economic evaluations; (b) to assess the generalisability and transferability of economic evaluations between the...

Economic evaluation databases have been developed to assist in setting priorities and facilitating research within the healthcare sector. This paper presents an overview of the major databases of economic evaluations currently available (HEED, NHS EED, the CEA Registry, CODECS, PEDE, EURONHEED and JEED). It describes the key features of each databa...

This paper overviews the EURONHEED (EUROpean Network of Health Economics Evaluation Databases) project. Launched in 2003, this project is funded by the EU. Its aim is to create a network of national and international databases dedicated to health economic evaluation of health services and innovations. Seven centres (France, Germany, Italy, The Neth...

This paper overviews the EURONHEED (EUROpean Network of Health Economics Evaluation Databases) project. Launched in 2003, this project is funded by the EU. Its aim is to create a network of national and international databases dedicated to health economic evaluation of health services and innovations. Seven centres (France, Germany, Italy, The Neth...

This paper provides a first outline of the European Network of Health Economic Evaluation Databases (EURO NHEED) project. The project is funded by the European Commission and will implement, in 7 European centres based in France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom, databases on the economic evaluation of healthcar...

Health-care technology reviews now increasingly include outcome costs as well as clinical effects. This study reports the findings and implications of a survey to explore the usefulness of the National Health Service Economic Evaluation Database (NHS EED) within this process. Postal survey of lead authors of Technology Assessment Reviews (TARs) com...

This paper provides a first outline of the European Network of Health Economic Evaluation Databases (EURO NHEED) project. The project is funded by the European Commission and will implement, in 7 European centres based in France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom, databases on the economic evaluation of healthcar...

EDITOR—We, the NHS Economic Evaluation Database Research Team, agree with Smith that economic evaluations should contain comprehensive reporting of both clinical effectiveness and economic analysis and that the BMJ is right to implement this new policy.1 How the clinical trial results (which inform the economic evaluation) are obtained is often par...

EDITOR—We, the NHS Economic Evaluation Database Research Team, agree with Smith that economic evaluations should contain comprehensive reporting of both clinical effectiveness and economic analysis and that the BMJ is right to implement this new policy.1 How the clinical trial results (which inform the economic evaluation) are obtained is often par...

This study illustrates a process of accessing and utilising clinical and economic evidence in health care decision making. The scenario examined was that of a UK Health Authority evaluating evidence prior to the introduction of assertive community treatment (ACT), as part of guidance from the UK National Service Framework for Mental Health. The con...

The impact of economic evaluation studies on health-care decision makers has been shown to be rather limited. However, there is an increasing requirement for the cost-effectiveness of health-care interventions to be considered in formulating and implementing guidelines for clinical practice. This paper reports the findings of recent focus group res...

Systematic reviews of healthcare interventions, which are aimed at informing health policy, increasingly include economic evaluations in addition to evaluations of clinical effectiveness.1-3 The challenge reviewers face is collating, appraising, and synthesising economic evidence in such a way that it is clearly helpful in making decisions about th...

Health care expenditure, which in most developed countries was rising sharply for more than three decades, has recently come under pressure for cost containment and budgetary control. In the countries of the European Union (EU), an additional thrust towards expenditure cuts has come about by the need for drastic reductions in government deficits an...

Convergence in health expenditure in the countries of the European Union (EU) has been demonstrated to be occurring in previous studies. The aim of this paper is to identify and discuss the reasons for this finding and to present new evidence confirming convergence in health outcomes, as represented by life expectancy and infant mortality rates. Th...

The increasing importance of information on cost effectiveness has been recognised by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE)1 and will be an integral part of new national guidelines for the NHS. Analyses of the literature on economic evaluations also reveal a rapid increase in the number of published studies.2 Having access to reliab...

The U.K. NHS Economic Evaluation Database (EED) project is commissioned to identify papers on economic evaluations of health technologies and to disseminate their findings to NHS decision makers by means of structured abstracts that are available through a public database and the Cochrane Library. This paper discusses current issues relating to the...

Objectives: To undertake a review of the EU member states’ health care systems in relation to a framework of health-related variables, and to determine the position of the UK with respect to all other EU countries in the light of recent remarks by Tony Blair in arguing for the UK to move towards European standards. Methods Hierarchical cluster anal...

Convergence analysis in economics has largely been confined to macro-indicators such as GDP income and applied within identifiable regions of the world or between developing and developed countries. This paper reports on the application of adapted methods within this discipline to the area of health care expenditure in the countries of the European...