Dear all,
 
This a request on behalf of  the CHEC-project (Consensus on Health Economics
Criteria list). The aim of the CHEC-project is developing a criteria list
for reviews and meta-analysis, which focus on the economic evaluation
aspects by using a Delphi method. Several criteria lists exist for quality
assessment of RCTs, but there is no generally accepted criteria list to
assess the quality of economic evaluation in systematic reviews. The aim of
this project is to obtain consensus among experts about a set of generic
core items for quality assessment of trials with economic evaluations. The
quality criteria list resulting from this study should be regarded as a
starting point for a  future minimum reference standard to be used in
systematic reviews. The criteria list will focus on the economic evaluation
aspects of trial-based studies and will leave out the more general design
characteristics of RCTs. Due to practical considerations this checklist
cannot be used in studies based on modelling or scenario-analysis.  
 
Briefly the design of this study, which is similar to the Delphi list for
quality assessment of RCTs (J Clin Epidemiol, 1998, 1235-1241), will be as
follows. An initial item pool will be developed in which items from existing
criteria/checklists will be included. As a search strategy for finding these
criteria 4 strategies will be used; Medline search, an Internet search,
screening handbooks on economic evaluation studies and information from the
Cochrane Collaboration . On the basis of this item-pool the Project Team
CHEC will develop a questionnaire for the Delphi panel. This criteria list
will be presented to a Delphi panel (economic evaluation experts), and they
will be asked whether these items should be included in a criteria list
(yes/no/don't know). In the second round participants are given the
opportunity to react to the first response of the Delphi team. 
 
Currently we are developing an initial item pool in which items from
existing criteria/checklists will be included. To trace current
criteria/checklists, which focus on economic evaluation, we have used above
mentioned search strategies. To be sure that we don't miss out any
criteria/checklists, we would like to ask you to inform us if you are aware
of any existing criteria/checklists for economic evaluation-reviews and
economic evaluation meta-analysis, which we should include in our initial
item pool.
 
 
Thank you in advance for your assistance. Wishing you a Happy Christmas and
a Prosperous New Year.
 
  
Yours sincerely, on behalf of all the members of the Project Team CHEC,



Silvia Evers
Tel: +31-43-3881602 or +31-43-3881727
Fax: +31-3670960
E-mail: [log in to unmask]

Postal Address: Maastricht University, Department of Health Organisation
Policy and Economics (HOPE), CHEC Project, attn. Silvia Evers, P.O. Box 616,
NL-6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands

Project Team CHEC (Consensus Health Economics Criterialist); 
Silvia Evers, Department of Health Organisation Policy and Economics,
University of Maastricht
Mariëlle Goossens, Institute of Rehabilitation Research Hoensbroek
Maurits van Tulder, Institute for Research in Extramural Medicine, Vrije
Universiteit Amsterdam
Riekie de Vet, Institute for Research in Extramural Medicine, Vrije
Universiteit Amsterdam
André Ament, Department of Health Organisation Policy and Economics,
University of Maastricht  
 
Task Force Group CHEC (Consensus Health Economics Criterialist); 
Martin Buxton (UK),  Douglas Coyle (Canada),  Mike Drummond (UK),  Anne
Elixhauser (USA),  
Egon Johnsson (Sweden),  Miranda Mugford (United Kingdom),  Frans Rutten
(Netherlands)