BCEA (Bayesian Cost-Effectiveness Analysis) R package
BCEA is an R package that helps researchers and decision makers evaluate whether a health intervention offers good value for money by comparing its costs and health benefits to alternative interventions using Bayesian methods.
At a glance
Use when
Conducting Bayesian health economic evaluations, especially when quantifying decision uncertainty and the value of future research.
Avoid when
When users lack statistical programming skills in R or when non-Bayesian (frequentist) methods are required or preferred.
Inputs
Probabilistic models of costs and health outcomes (e.g., from Markov models or Bayesian models), willingness-to-pay thresholds, and distributions representing parameter uncertainty.
Outputs
Cost-effectiveness planes, cost-effectiveness acceptability curves (CEAC), expected value of perfect information (EVPI), expected value of partial perfect information (EVPPI), and efficiency frontier plots.
How it works
BCEA is an R package designed for Bayesian cost-effectiveness analysis, enabling users to model uncertainty in health economic evaluations. It supports probabilistic sensitivity analysis, computes expected value of perfect information (EVPI), and generates standard outputs such as cost-effectiveness planes, acceptability curves, and efficiency frontiers based on Bayesian inference.
- HTA domains
- Costs & Economic Evaluation
- Categories
- Cost-effectiveness Modelling
- Assumptions
- Costs and effects are subject to uncertainty modeled probabilistically; willingness-to-pay reflects societal or decision-maker preferences for a unit of health gain; outcomes are measured on comparable scales.
- Strengths
- Integrates Bayesian inference with economic evaluation for robust uncertainty quantification,Provides advanced decision-theoretic outputs like EVPI and EVPPI,Generates standardized visualizations for clear communication of results,Well-documented and actively maintained with peer-reviewed publication
- Limitations
- Requires proficiency in R and Bayesian modeling,Primarily focused on cost-effectiveness, not broader HTA domains like organizational or social impacts,Assumes correct specification of underlying probabilistic models
- Also known as
- BCEA, Bayesian Cost-Effectiveness Analysis
Questions this answers
- › Is a new health intervention more cost-effective than existing alternatives?
- › What is the probability that an intervention is cost-effective at different willingness-to-pay thresholds?
- › How much uncertainty exists around cost-effectiveness estimates?
- › What is the value of collecting additional evidence (e.g., through further research)?
- › Which intervention should be selected given budget and health outcome trade-offs?
- › How do costs and effects jointly vary across simulations in a probabilistic analysis?
References & sources
Similar by meaning
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