Resources Repository
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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 | Policy/Regulation | Preferences/Values | Infectious Diseases | Government/Law | North America -
EditorialPublication 2020Waiting for Certainty on COVID-19 Antibody Tests — At What Cost?
This perspective anticipates the availability of serologic antibody testing and considers its potential usefulness in mitigation …
This perspective anticipates the availability of serologic antibody testing and considers its potential usefulness in mitigation policy to reduce COVID-19 transmission. For example: Could we screen for serologic antibodies as a proxy for possible immunity and identify people who could return to the workplace with less severe mitigation measures? The authors acknowledge the uncertainties raised by many policy actors, including the WHO, such as, "Do antibodies confer immunity and, if so, for how long? How accurate is…
Technology Assessment | Policy/Regulation | Probability/Bayes | Test Performance | Infectious Diseases | Health Systems | Government/Law | Health/Medicine | Global | North America -
ArticlePublication 2020Impact of Cigarette Tax Increase in India
This article, published in Gates Open Research, examines the impact of a one-time large cigarette …
This article, published in Gates Open Research, examines the impact of a one-time large cigarette price increase, through an increase in excise tax, on health and financing outcomes in four Indian states. Extended cost-effectiveness analysis (ECEA) is used to estimate, across income quintiles, the life-years gained, treatment cost averted, number of men avoiding catastrophic health expenditures and extreme poverty, and additional tax revenue collected with a cigarette price increase to Indian Rupees (INR) 10 plus…
Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Policy/Regulation | Chronic Disease/Risk | Health Systems | Health/Medicine | Asia & Pacific -
BriefPublication 2019Brief: Safe Routes to School (SRTS) in Houston, Texas
This brief summarizes findings from the CHOICES Learning Collaborative Partnership simulation model of implementing Safe …
This brief summarizes findings from the CHOICES Learning Collaborative Partnership simulation model of implementing Safe Routes to School (SRTS) initiatives in elementary and middle schools in the Houston Independent School District. SRTS aims to help children safely walk and bicycle to school through infrastructure improvements, education, and promotional activities. The analysis compared the costs and outcomes over a 10-year time horizon (2017-2027) of implementing SRTS in Houston with the costs and outcomes associated with not…
Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Policy/Regulation | Child/Nutrition | Chronic Disease/Risk | Economics/Finance | Education/Labor | Health/Medicine | North America -
BriefPublication 2020Brief: Active Physical Education (PE) in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania
This brief summarizes findings from the CHOICES Learning Collaborative Partnership simulation model of implementing an …
This brief summarizes findings from the CHOICES Learning Collaborative Partnership simulation model of implementing an Active Physical Education (PE) program in school districts participating in the Live Well Allegheny initiative in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. Live Well Allegheny Schools will commit that 50% of PE class time be dedicated to moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. This analysis compared the costs and outcomes of the implementation of the Active PE program in designated school districts over a 10-year time horizon with the costs…
Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Policy/Regulation | Child/Nutrition | Chronic Disease/Risk | Education/Labor | Health/Medicine | North America -
Resource PackPublication, Teaching Resource 2021Resource Pack: Valuing Health and Longevity in BCA
This resource pack, curated by the Center for Health Decision Science, introduces the valuation of …
This resource pack, curated by the Center for Health Decision Science, introduces the valuation of changes in health and longevity in benefit-cost analysis. It is targeted towards advanced students and practitioners who have a basic understanding of the benefit-cost analysis framework, as discussed in the Resource Pack: Introduction to Benefit-Cost Analysis. That pack provides a general overview of the approaches that are explored in more detail here, as well as related guidance documents. This pack…
Benefit-Cost Analysis | Policy/Regulation | Preferences/Values | College | Graduate | Critical Thinking/Analysis | Policy Translation -
Online LearningVideo, Teaching Resource 2020Valuing Statistical Lives: Concepts, Current Practices, and Challenges
Many policies aim to improve longevity, decreasing the risk of death in each year, and …
Many policies aim to improve longevity, decreasing the risk of death in each year, and the value of these risk reductions often dominate the estimated benefits of risk regulations and other policies. This value is often expressed as the value per statistical life (VSL), a term that is widely misunderstood. It is not the value that the analyst, the government, or the individual places on saving an identified life with certainty. Instead, it reflects individuals’…
Benefit-Cost Analysis | Policy/Regulation | Climate/Environment | Health/Medicine | Global -
ArticlePublication 2020Premature Deaths, Statistical Lives, and Years of Life
This article clarifies some misconceptions about mortality risk and economic valuation. The mortality effects of …
This article clarifies some misconceptions about mortality risk and economic valuation. The mortality effects of exposure to environmental hazards such as air pollution are often described by the estimated number of “premature deaths” and the economic value of an exposure reduction as the number of “statistical lives saved” multiplied by the “value per statistical life.” These terms can be misleading because the number of deaths advanced by exposure cannot be determined from mortality data; it…
Benefit-Cost Analysis | Policy/Regulation | Preferences/Values | Health Outcomes | Environmental Health | College | Graduate | Critical Thinking/Analysis -
ArticlePublication 2019Country Contextualization of Cost-Effectiveness Studies
This article, published in BMJ Global Health, provides experiences of country contextualization of WHO-CHOICE methods …
This article, published in BMJ Global Health, provides experiences of country contextualization of WHO-CHOICE methods and models to a country level. Results from three contextualized cost-effectiveness analyses (CEAs) are presented, and the authors discuss how this evidence can inform priority setting in Ethiopia. This method of contextualized CEAs requires inclusion of national analysts and use of country-specific inputs for either costs, epidemiology, demography, baseline coverage or effects. Rank ordering of interventions by incremental cost-effectiveness ratios…
Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Policy/Regulation | Health Systems | Clinical Care | Health/Medicine | Sub-Saharan Africa