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Through the use of a multiattribute model, this article addresses the investment appraisal of innovative medical devices from an industry perspective. The model proposed aims to reduce the effect of team conflict, groupthink, project champion bias, leadership influences, and authoritarianism. The approach suggested should lead to more innovative and economically viable medical devices being made available to the healthcare community. The study aims to improve the decision-making process with respect to the development of medical devices. In particular, it focuses on small/medium enterprises, as they are an important source of innovation for the future. Our article provides a link between the engineering economics, engineering management, and project management literature, in which the proposed multiattribute and team approach to project selection not only addresses the economic aspect but also provides a firm foundation for ongoing project management through the identification, at the outset, of project specific risks and strategic alliances. The model should help project and engineering managers, as a part of the selection team, to make optimal project selections and improve project commitment among the various management team players. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Given the increasing lifespan of the elderly and the higher proportion of older people in the global population, the incidence rate of neurodegenerative diseases is increasing. The aim of this study is to evaluate, by means of computer simulations, developments in the costs of treating and caring for people suffering from Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in the EU 28 by 2080, while assuming the introduction of drug administrations at various disease stages. Methods: Impact analysis leverages a mathematical model that compares five different population development scenarios when introducing different types of drugs to the scenarios but without changing the treatment. Changes in the economic burden are considered as of 2023, when new drugs are expected to enter the market. Findings: The results of the simulations show that by prolonging the length of a person’s ‘stay’ in the Mild, Moderate, or Severe stage, the total cost of care for all persons with AD will increase by 2080. For individual scenarios, the percentage of patients and costs increased as follows: Mild by one year, by 10.61%; Mild by two years, by 17.73%; Moderate by one year, by 16.79%; Moderate by two years, by 34.88%; and Severe by one year, by 23.79%. The change in cost development when prolonging the stay in the Mild cognitive impairment stage (by lowering the incidence by 10%, 30%, or 50%) reduced the cost (by 4.88%, 16.78% and 32.48%, respectively). Interpretation: The results unambiguously show that any intervention prolonging a patient’s stay in any stage will incur additional care costs and an increase in the number of persons with AD. Therefore, extending lifespan is important in terms of improving the quality of life of patients, and the introduction of new drugs must consider the additional costs imposed upon society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a progressive autoimmune disease of the central nervous system that is often disabling and for which there is currently no cure, though disease-modifying treatment is now available. The aim of this study is to describe the current values of the direct costs of multiple sclerosis (MS) in the Czech Republic.Methods: Attention is focused on direct medical costs. The costs were monitored in the Czech Republic among 5673 patients in the period between 2011 and 2015. These costs included complex, special and targeted visits at the neurologist, blood collection and the costs of hospitalisation. The results refer to the diagnoses according to the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems. The attention is focused on MS G35 (NS; brain stem; spinal cord; disseminated; generalised).Results: The average total direct costs per patient per year are 4838.1 €. Not every patient has to be hospitalised during the year, and not every patient has prescribed medication. According to the above data, 12% of patients are hospitalised and 55% of patients are prescribed medication. The minimum average cost per patient without medication and hospitalisation is 54.1 €.Conclusion: Cost evaluation across countries is difficult due to the different evidence. If only selected direct costs considered in this study are compared, the absolute economics burden increases over time. The only statistically significant difference in the average price and the time spent is between 2012 and 2013, where the correlation value is 0.597. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of cloud computing services appears to offer significant cost advantages. The most frequently mentioned advantages include investment and operating costs saving, high elasticity of services as well as increased flexibility of certain business processes. On the other hand, the adoption of cloud computing in enterprise environments is non-trivial. Understanding the organizational benefits and drawbacks is far from straightforward. The adoption of cloud computing results in a considerable amount of organizational change that will affect employees. The aim of this contribution is to conduct and describe the evaluation model of cloud computing that would be applicable in business practice for evaluating the effectiveness of such investments. The target users of this model are primarily people in companies with decision-making power in the investment field. The appropriate starting point based on the multi-criteria evaluation was the cost–benefit analysis (CBA) approach for cloud computing (CC). A multi-method approach (systematic literature review, analysis of real cloud computing services, expert interview, case study) was applied in order to develop and evaluate the formal model. We found that our model fits the practical requirements and supports decision-making in cloud computing. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The purpose of this study is to analyze the economic burden of persons with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Parkinson's disease (PD) in Europe. On the basis of available data about the number of persons with dementia, their prevalence, and treatment and care costs, a mean cost burden is estimated for the year of 2030 and for the year of 2050 in Europe. The method of retrospective analysis of available sources was used; furthermore, analysis of database data such as WHO and Eurostat, which provide information about the number of older people and people with dementia; and specification of direct and indirect medical and nonmedical costs of patients with AD and PD from current studies was also used. The findings of this study confirm that the number of patients affected with AD and PD, as well as annual costs of the treatment and care of these patients, in the selected European countries are rapidly growing. The cost burden of both AD and PD in the selected European countries rises year by year, and by 2050, the cost burden of both diseases in fact will be almost two times higher in comparison with the year of 2010. In 2050, the overall mean cost burden is estimated to reach 357 billion Euros. The European Union calls for a joint initiative in the development of a uniformed strategic plan in the fight against dementia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of cloud computing is acknowledged both at national and entrepreneurial level. Its potential in business has been already described in many studies (Dillonet al., 2010; Bayraket al., 2011; Nuseibeh, 2011; Repschlaegeret al., 2013). However, many European countries do not exploit it much in spite of many positive responses made by respected consulting companies. The reasons for this are a very low level of changes in companies, ignorance of opportunities of the given technology and, consequently, an inability to count the return of investment. Therefore, the aim of this article is to introduce a tool for the investment evaluation of cloud computing, which corresponds to the needs of the European business environment and to the properties of this technology. Furthermore, the cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) method is explored. This method is adjusted for cloud computing on the basis of companies’ requirements, which were collected from quantitative and qualitative surveys and from the interviews with experts in cloud computing from academic and business environments. In addition, individual stages of the CBA method used in cloud computing are described. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The introduction of information technology into all aspects of our lives has brought forth qualitative and quantitative changes on such a large scale that this process has come to be known as the Fourth Industrial Revolution, or Industry 4.0. The aim of this paper is to fill in the gaps and provide an overview of studies dealing with Industry 4.0 from the business and economic perspectives. A scoping review is performed regarding business, microeconomic and macroeconomic economic problems. Four investigators performed a literature search of the Web of Science, Scopus, and Science Direct. The selected period spanned from 2014 to 2018, and the following keywords were used for the search: Industry 4.0, economics, economic development, production economics, and financial sector. A total of 2275 results were returned. In all, 67 full papers were screened. Results obtained from the relevant studies were, furthermore, divided into the following categories: work and skills development; economy growth and macroeconomic aspect; sustainability; intelligent manufacturing; policy; and change in business processes. Findings show that the aspects of work and skills development, smart technology adoption, intelligent manufacturing, and digitalization are very well described. The government and its policies usually play the role of a needed supportive element. Usually studies lack a coherent view of the topic in question and solve partial questions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]