TY - JOUR
T1 - Whither economic evaluation in the case of COVID-19
T2 - What can the field of mental health economics contribute within the Australian context?
AU - Mihalopoulos, Cathrine
AU - Chatterton, Mary Lou
AU - Engel, Lidia
AU - Le, Long Khanh Dao
AU - Lee, Yong Yi
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists 2020.
PY - 2020/12
Y1 - 2020/12
N2 - COVID-19 has resulted in broad impacts on the economy and aspects of daily life including our collective mental health and well-being. The Australian health care system already faces limitations in its ability to treat people with mental health diagnoses. Australia has responded to the COVID-19 outbreak by, among other initiatives, providing reimbursement for telehealth services. However, it is unclear if these measures will be enough to manage the psychological distress, depression, anxiety and post-traumatic distress shown to accompany infectious disease outbreaks and economic shocks. Decision making has focused on the physical health ramifications of COVID-19, the avoidance of over-burdening the health care system and saving lives. We propose an alternative framework for decision making that combines life years saved with impacts on quality of life. A framework that simultaneously includes mental health and broader economic impacts into a single decision-making process would facilitate transparent and accountable decision making that can improve the overall welfare of Australian society as we continue to address the considerable challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic is creating.
AB - COVID-19 has resulted in broad impacts on the economy and aspects of daily life including our collective mental health and well-being. The Australian health care system already faces limitations in its ability to treat people with mental health diagnoses. Australia has responded to the COVID-19 outbreak by, among other initiatives, providing reimbursement for telehealth services. However, it is unclear if these measures will be enough to manage the psychological distress, depression, anxiety and post-traumatic distress shown to accompany infectious disease outbreaks and economic shocks. Decision making has focused on the physical health ramifications of COVID-19, the avoidance of over-burdening the health care system and saving lives. We propose an alternative framework for decision making that combines life years saved with impacts on quality of life. A framework that simultaneously includes mental health and broader economic impacts into a single decision-making process would facilitate transparent and accountable decision making that can improve the overall welfare of Australian society as we continue to address the considerable challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic is creating.
KW - COVID-19
KW - Economic evaluation
KW - health economics
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85092134219&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/0004867420963724
DO - 10.1177/0004867420963724
M3 - Article
C2 - 33008268
AN - SCOPUS:85092134219
SN - 0004-8674
VL - 54
SP - 1157
EP - 1161
JO - Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry
JF - Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry
IS - 12
ER -