A randomized trial of an acid-peptic disease management program in a managed care environment

This is a critical abstract of an economic evaluation that meets the criteria for inclusion on NHS EED. Each abstract contains a brief summary of the methods, the results and conclusions followed by a detailed critical assessment on the reliability of the study and the conclusions drawn. Although the medical care received by patients in the disease management group was superior to that received by the control group, there was no evidence that their health was superior. However, the authors postulated various reasons why a health difference might not have been detected, even though it existed. Although one of the aims of the disease management programme had been to reduce the costs, no cost-reduction was detected.