Assessing the ‘value for money’ from rehabilitation programmes

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Abstract
In most countries the resources for the provision of health care are increasingly stretched in the face of competing demands for their use. This has stimulated interest in methods of assessing the ‘value for money’ from health service investments. In the past those providing rehabilitation services have often been at the end of the queue for health service resources and there is a danger that they will also be left behind in the race to demonstrate ‘value for money’ from their programmes. This paper outlines the methods of economic evaluation in health care, critically reviews their application to rehabilitation programmes to date and discusses how economic analysis could be conducted alongside a clinical trial of an active rehabilitation programme for stroke patients. It is argued that, despite the methodological difficulties, there ought to be more economic evaluations of rehabilitation programmes in the future.