Thomas J. Bunz, Pharm.D., Thomas Jefferson University
Laura T. Pizzi, Jefferson Medical College

Making value based purchasing decisions in healthcare requires balancing data from several sources. Information on effectiveness of interventions often comes from clinical trials, with less reliance on observational studies. Historically, the opposite has been true of information on the cost of interventions. More recently, providers of healthcare interventions such as drugs, devices, and disease management programs have begun to understand and appreciate the importance of costs in healthcare decision making. Because of this, the clinical trials used to demonstrate effectiveness have begun to gather data on costs. This article describes some benefits and detriments of collecting cost data as a component of clinical trials, focusing specifically on the data related to productivity.