Clinical and economic evaluation of health care technologies: a joint and sequential approach.

Promising new technologies have to be carefully analyzed before their integration into clinical practice. Moreover, the existing technologies need to be confronted with the new ones in terms of effectiveness and efficiency. Logical guidelines for both clinical and economic evaluation are described in the present review paper which mainly deals with diagnostic technology. All the proposed steps are not instrumental for each technology assessment but they provide a more rational approach to the acceptance and diffusion of technology.