Resources Repository
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ReportPublication 2014Redirecting Innovation in U.S. Health Care
This report from RAND Health explores methods of reducing health care spending and developing medical …
This report from RAND Health explores methods of reducing health care spending and developing medical products that provide cost value with health benefits. It summarizes literature and explores case studies to provide policy recommendations to meet these goals. It identifies a wide range of factors that affect the costs, risks, and rewards of medical product invention. Some of these features include treatment creep, the medical arms race, costs and risks of FDA approval, limited reward…
Evidence Synthesis | North America | Policy/Regulation | Health Systems | Costing Methods | Health Outcomes | Economics/Finance | Government/Law | Health/Medicine | Science/Technology -
ArticlePublication 2024Adopting Electric School Buses in the U.S.: Health & Climate Benefits
This article evaluates the health and climate benefits of replacing diesel school buses with electric …
This article evaluates the health and climate benefits of replacing diesel school buses with electric models in the U.S. Despite the high cost of electric buses, their benefits in reducing mortality and childhood asthma, as well as greenhouse gas emissions, could justify the investment. The study quantifies the benefits of replacing an average diesel bus with an electric bus, estimating $84,200 in total benefits per bus, with $40,400 from climate benefits and $43,800 from health…
Benefit-Cost Analysis | North America | Environmental Health | Government/Law | Health/Medicine -
ArticlePublication 2023Benefits and Costs of COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates
Written mid-pandemic, this article evaluates the direct costs and health benefits of requiring COVID-19 vaccinations …
Written mid-pandemic, this article evaluates the direct costs and health benefits of requiring COVID-19 vaccinations for U.S. federal employees and healthcare and private sector workers. These mandates were controversial and some were halted by litigation. If they had been implemented as intended, the net benefits would depend on the course of the pandemic. If a more transmissible variant (such as Omicron) emerges, the net benefits may be large. If the pandemic instead fades, the benefits…
Benefit-Cost Analysis | North America | Policy/Regulation | Mathematical Models | State-Transition | Infectious Diseases | Business/Industry | Economics/Finance | Government/Law | Health/Medicine -
ArticlePublication 2022COVID-19 Response: The Need for Economic Evaluation
COVID-19-related policies are fraught with trade-offs. Many of these trade-offs involve dimensions that can be …
COVID-19-related policies are fraught with trade-offs. Many of these trade-offs involve dimensions that can be quantitatively weighed using economic evaluation, such as those between health and cost outcomes. Other types of dimensions, such as those involving equity or autonomy, can be harder to quantify but should be considered in a comprehensive health policy decision-making context nonetheless. The authors of this New England Journal of Medicine Perspectives article outline how methods of economic evaluation and decision…
Benefit-Cost Analysis | North America | Policy/Regulation | Priority Setting/Ethics | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Infectious Diseases | Economics/Finance | Health/Medicine | Global -
ArticlePublication 2022Emerging Therapies for COVID-19: The Value of Information From More Clinical Trials
The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated time-sensitive policy and implementation decisions regarding new therapies in the face …
The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated time-sensitive policy and implementation decisions regarding new therapies in the face of uncertainty. This study aimed to quantify consequences of approving therapies or pursuing further research. The authors used a cohort state-transition model for hospitalized patients with COVID-19 to estimate quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) and costs associated with multiple drug regimens and usual care. For each they assessed immediate approval, use only in research, emergency use authorization or reject. They conducted cost-effectiveness…
Benefit-Cost Analysis | North America | Policy/Regulation | Value of Information | State-Transition | Infectious Diseases | Economics/Finance | Europe -
ReportPublication 2021Valuing COVID-19 Mortality and Morbidity Risks
In this report, the researchers develop an approach for valuing COVID-19 mortality and morbidity risk …
In this report, the researchers develop an approach for valuing COVID-19 mortality and morbidity risk reductions that builds on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Guidelines for Regulatory Impact Analysis. They review the differences between COVID-19 mortality risks and the types of risks that are more commonly studied, and find that the impacts of these differences on the value of mortality risk reductions (the value per statistical life, VSL) are uncertain. They…
Benefit-Cost Analysis | North America | Policy/Regulation | Preferences/Values | Infectious Diseases | Government/Law -
ArticlePublication 2021Individual and Social Determinants of COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake
This article examined the individual, communication and social determinants associated with COVID-19 vaccine uptake using …
This article examined the individual, communication and social determinants associated with COVID-19 vaccine uptake using national survey data collected before vaccines were available in the U.S. Of note, individuals under the federal poverty level and racial and ethnic minorities were oversampled. Outcomes included the likelihood of vaccinating self and dependents (e.g., children). Independent variables included perceptions of risk, exposure to different media for COVID-19 news, political party identification, confidence in scientists and social determinants of…
Evidence Synthesis | North America | Policy/Regulation | Health Outcomes | Infectious Diseases | Social Determinants | Clinical Care | Culture/Society | Health/Medicine | Science/Technology -
ReportPublication 2017Underestimated Cost of the Opioid Crisis
This report on the opioid public health crisis was released by the White House Council …
This report on the opioid public health crisis was released by the White House Council on Economic Advisors (CEA) in November 2017. It corrects previous estimates of related costs by adding the value of the associated deaths. Earlier estimates focused on medical and other expenditures, while the new report also includes estimates of the value that individuals place on reducing their own risks of premature mortality. The report notes that, in 2015, over 33,000 Americans…
Benefit-Cost Analysis | North America | Policy/Regulation | Preferences/Values | Costing Methods | Chronic Disease/Risk | Mental Health | Economics/Finance | Government/Law | Health/Medicine -
ArticlePublication 2014Evaluation of FDA Benefit-Cost Analysis of Graphic Warning Labels
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is required to do a regulatory impact analysis assessing …
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is required to do a regulatory impact analysis assessing the costs and benefits of its tobacco products and other regulations. This paper provides a critical review of the approach the FDA used in its proposed and final graphic warning label rule, and includes recommendations on how to improve the analysis in ways that account for the differences between tobacco use and consumption of most consumer products. To date, FDA…
Benefit-Cost Analysis | North America | Policy/Regulation | Costing Methods | Chronic Disease/Risk | Government/Law | Health/Medicine