Resources Repository
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ReportPublication 2017Communicating Science Effectively: A Research Agenda
Science and technology are embedded in virtually every aspect of modern life. As a result, …
Science and technology are embedded in virtually every aspect of modern life. As a result, people face an increasing need to integrate information from science with their personal values and other considerations as they make important life decisions about medical care, the safety of foods, what to do about climate change, and many other issues. Communicating science effectively, however, is a complex task and an acquired skill. Moreover, the approaches to communicating science that will…
Priority Setting/Ethics | Health/Medicine | Education/Labor | North America | Decision Psychology | Preferences/Values | Social Determinants | Climate/Environment | Culture/Society | Energy/Engineering | Science/Technology -
ReviewPublication 2015Population Health: Behavioral and Social Science Insights
This book comprises 23 chapters focused on what the effects of various behavioral and social factors …
This book comprises 23 chapters focused on what the effects of various behavioral and social factors on longevity, disability and illness, and quality of life, primarily at the population level. Factors such as access to health care, educational attainment, nutrition, physical activity, use of tobacco products, and non-communicable diseases are considered, along with many other determinants of health and longevity. Of particular interest for health decision scientists are the following chapters: In Section 4: The Science…
Priority Setting/Ethics | Benefit-Cost Analysis | Health/Medicine | North America | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Global | Europe -
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 | Health/Medicine | North America | Preferences/Values | Costing Methods | Chronic Disease/Risk | Mental Health | Policy/Regulation | Economics/Finance | Government/Law -
ReviewPublication 2016Remembering Howard Raiffa
Howard Raiffa (1924-2016) had a profound influence on all aspects of the decision sciences and on …
Howard Raiffa (1924-2016) had a profound influence on all aspects of the decision sciences and on the fields of systems analysis and operations research. He guided the introduction of the decision sciences into numerous fields such as business, medicine, public health, the environmental sciences, and law, and was instrumental in building world-recognized institutions such as the Kennedy School at Harvard and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis near Vienna, Austria. This article is a thoughtful tribute by…
Decision Theory | Health/Medicine | North America | Preferences/Values | Decision Analysis | Operations Research | Business/Industry | Economics/Finance | Military/Defense -
ReviewWeb Portal 2016Use of Economics in Informing U.S. Public Health Policy
The goal of this American Journal of Preventive Medicine supplement on “The Use of Economics …
The goal of this American Journal of Preventive Medicine supplement on “The Use of Economics in Informing U.S. Public Health Policy” is to influence policy researchers to identify and undertake economic research that generates the key evidence needed to inform policy. In public health, economic evaluation, primarily cost and cost-effectiveness analysis, has been widely used to demonstrate the economic burden of health-related conditions and the value of proposed programs and policies. However, despite the wealth…
Priority Setting/Ethics | Health/Medicine | North America | Costing Methods | Health Outcomes | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Health Systems | Policy/Regulation | Economics/Finance | Government/Law -
ReviewPublication 2016Strengthening Cost-Effectiveness Analysis for Public Health Policy
Many important opportunities to improve health lie outside the health sector and involve improving the …
Many important opportunities to improve health lie outside the health sector and involve improving the conditions in which we live and work: safe design and maintenance of roads, bridges, train tracks, and airports; control of environmental pollutants; occupational safety; healthy buildings; a safe and healthy food supply; safe manufacture of consumer products; a healthy social environment; and others. Faced with the overwhelming array of possibilities, U.S. decision makers need help identifying those that can contribute the…
Priority Setting/Ethics | Health/Medicine | North America | Preferences/Values | Costing Methods | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Social Determinants | Environmental Health | Health Systems | Policy/Regulation | Climate/Environment | Economics/Finance | Food/Agriculture -
ReviewWeb Portal 2015Science of Making Better Decisions About Health: CEA and BCA
This chapter reviews the main scientific methods for guiding the allocation of resources to health: cost-effectiveness …
This chapter reviews the main scientific methods for guiding the allocation of resources to health: cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) and cost-benefit analysis (CBA), sketches their methodological progress over the last several decades, and presents examples of how medical practice in other high-income countries, where people live longer, follows the priorities indicated by cost-effectiveness analysis.
Benefit-Cost Analysis | Health/Medicine | North America | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Health Systems | Policy/Regulation -
ReviewPublication 2015Major Concepts of Health Care Economics
This article provides a short simple guide to major economic concepts, such as supply, demand, monopoly, …
This article provides a short simple guide to major economic concepts, such as supply, demand, monopoly, monopsony, adverse selection, and moral hazard. Concepts are applied to central features of U.S. health care to illuminate some of the principal problems of health policy - high cost and the uninsured - and explain why solutions are difficult to obtain.
Benefit-Cost Analysis | Health/Medicine | North America | Costing Methods | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis -
ReviewPublication 2015Medicare's Use of CEA for Prevention (But Not Treatment)
Medicare currently pays for 23 preventive services in its benefits package, the majority of which …
Medicare currently pays for 23 preventive services in its benefits package, the majority of which were added since 2005. In the past decade, the program has transformed from one essentially administering treatment claims, to one increasingly focused on health promotion and maintenance. What is largely unappreciated is the role cost-effectiveness analysis has played in the coverage of preventive services. This study reviews the role of cost-effectiveness analysis in Medicare coverage of preventive services and contrast it…
Priority Setting/Ethics | Health/Medicine | North America | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Technology Assessment | Infectious Diseases | Child/Nutrition | Chronic Disease/Risk | Health Systems | Policy/Regulation | Economics/Finance | Government/Law