[Analysis of economic data and elaboration of professional guidelines]

As medicine becomes increasingly complex, economic constraints are beginning to weight more heavily on the actors of our health system. It follows that one of ANAES' missions is to initiate and promote professional guidelines that take full account of economic arguments. One of the benefits of economic evaluation is to provide professionals with information about the economic consequences of their practices. This implies determining to what extent the methodological principles used to develop clinical guidelines can also apply to the incorporation of economic criteria in professional guidelines. Economic evaluation offers those active in the field of health an information that can be absorbed into the reality of what they actually do in practice. Professionals can thus orient themselves towards practices which have not only been clinically validated but are also cost-effective. This is the objective that underlies the critical appraisal of economic evaluation publications. Such appraisals help professionals to base their choices on objective grounds.