[Evaluation and decision making. The economist's point of view (author's transl)].

This brief review summarizes six fundamental points concerning the practical application of evaluation results by decision makers. 1. Areas of agreement and disagreement between the viewpoints of doctors and economists; the necessity and the possibility of reconciling them by a systematic but flexible approach. 2. Basic factors which oblige us to seek this reconciliation between clinical responsibility to the patient and economic responsibility to society. 3. The concept of economic efficiency and the three types of economic analysis for achieving, it which are the most closely linked to epidemiology. 4. Some evidence of the lack of economic efficiency in the health services, and the slowness of improvements. 5. Five types of difficulties in the use of evaluation results by decision makers. 6. Some pragmatic propositions to improve the situation.