Incorporating Economic Evidence in Clinical Guidelines: A Framework From the Clinical Guidelines Committee of the American College of Physicians.

In recognition of accelerating health care spending and alignment with the American College of Physicians (ACP) principles of promoting high-value care, the ACP Clinical Guidelines Committee (CGC) developed a framework to standardize its approach to identifying, appraising, and considering economic evidence in the development of ACP clinical guidelines. This article presents the CGC's process for incorporating economic evidence, which encompasses cost-effectiveness analyses, economic outcomes in randomized controlled trials, and resource utilization (intervention cost) data. Economic evidence is one component of ACP recommendations. The CGC first and foremost assesses the certainty of evidence for clinical net benefit of interventions; it then considers patient values and preferences, and only then considers economic evidence to develop recommendations.