Public Health Economics: Review of Guidance for Economic Evaluation
2013
This is a systematic review of published guidance for the economic evaluation of public health interventions. Public Health Economics is the science and art of supporting decision making as to how society can use its available resources to advance health, and minimize opportunity cost. In this review, the authors identified 5 international guidance documents, 7 UK guidance documents and 4 documents by individual commentators.
The papers reviewed identify the main methodological challenges that face analysts when conducting such evaluations. There is a consensus within the guidance that wider social and environmental costs and benefits should be examined due to the complex nature of public health. This was reflected in the theoretical underpinning as the majority of guidance was categorized as extra-welfarist. The authors argue that health economics may have come full circle from its roots in broad public policy economics. They offer a 12-point checklist to support government, UK National Health Service commissioners and individual health economists in their consideration of economic evaluation methodology with respect to the additional challenges of applying health economics to public health.
Public Health Economics: Review of Guidance for Economic Evaluation
Source:
Edwards RT, Charles JM, Lloyd-Williams H. Public Health Economics: a Systematic Review of Guidance for the Economic Evaluation of Public Health Interventions and Discussion of Key Methodological Issues. BMC Public Health 2013; 13: 1001. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-13-1001