Upfront Cost Guidance Limited in US Guidelines - Summary - MDSpire

Upfront Cost Guidance Limited in US Guidelines

  • By

  • Andrea Surnit

  • June 27, 2026

  • 6 min

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Objective:

To evaluate the incorporation of economic and resource use-related guidance in US clinical practice guidelines.

Approach:
  • Study Design: Cross-sectional study analyzing 309 clinical practice guideline documents from 23 large US-based medical societies issued between 2019 and 2023.
  • Data Collection: Guidelines were identified through the ECRI Guidelines Trust, and economic-related terms were used to assess recommendations.
  • Analysis: The study assessed the presence of economic guidance in both upfront recommendation statements and narrative discussions.
Key Findings:
  • Only 3.8% of recommendations included an upfront economic or resource use-related statement.
  • 76% of guideline documents contained at least one recommendation with a narrative discussion of economic evidence.
  • Recommendations from primary care societies were nearly 13 times more likely to include upfront economic statements compared to specialty societies.
  • Across all 7,582 recommendations, 1,706, or 22.5%, included a narrative discussion of economic or resource use-related evidence.
Interpretation:

Despite an increase in attention to economic considerations in guideline development, they are infrequently included in individual recommendations.

Limitations:
  • The assessment of economic guidance was based on a broad composite measure and did not evaluate the quality or clinical usefulness of the guidance.
  • The sample was limited to guidelines in the ECRI Guidelines Trust and may not represent all guidelines from the included societies.
Conclusion:

Higher quality health economic evidence and explicit consideration of such evidence may improve the incorporation of economic guidance in clinical practice guidelines.

Sources:

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