- Page navigation anchor for Task shifting, principles of economic evaluation, and decision makingTask shifting, principles of economic evaluation, and decision makingEighteen years ago in this journal Kernick and Scott1 outlined the principles of economic evaluation to "...guard against the introduction of changes that are thought to be efficient, when in fact they may not be so." In a recent review "General medical services by non-medical health professionals: a systematic quantitative review of economic evaluations in primary care", Bethany et al.2 identified six economic evaluations. This is indeed a relatively small number given time elapsed since the paper by Kernick & Scott and the continued challenge faced by health care systems regarding the current and future workforce.However, the research implications provided by Bethany et al. seem shortsighted or even misleading. By suggesting that financial benefits because of lower units costs may be outweighed by differences in volume and hence that "employing allied health professionals to perform roles and duties normally completed by GPs may prove more costly overall", they limit the implications of task shifting or skill mix to direct health care costs. This makes one question whether the economic principles applied adequately reflect the essence of task shifting as a strategy. For example, task shifting has shown to free up time of GPs and hence increase the productivity of the entire team. Other long-term benefits of taks shifting include increased accessibility, improved self-care,...Show MoreCompeting Interests: None declared.