Resources Repository
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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 | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Economics/Finance | North America | Priority Setting/Ethics | Infectious Diseases | Policy/Regulation | Health/Medicine | Global -
ReviewPublication 2022Systematic Review of Economic Evaluations of COVID-19 Interventions: Non-Health Impacts and Distributional Issues
The authors conducted a systematic review of economic evaluations of COVID-19 interventions and assessed whether …
The authors conducted a systematic review of economic evaluations of COVID-19 interventions and assessed whether they incorporated non-health impacts and distributional concerns. Among the 70 articles included, more than half (56%) included at least one non-health impact, although only 21% incorporated non-economic consequences. Only 17% examined subgroups of interest. The median ICER for the entire sample was $67,000/quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) (interquartile range [IQR] $9000-$893,000/QALY). Interventions including a pharmaceutical component yielded a median ICER of $93,000/QALY (IQR…
Evidence Synthesis | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Economics/Finance | North America | Infectious Diseases | Social Determinants | Culture/Society | Health/Medicine -
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…
Operations Research | Decision Theory | Economics/Finance | North America | Preferences/Values | Decision Analysis | Business/Industry | Health/Medicine | 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…
Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Costing Methods | Economics/Finance | North America | Priority Setting/Ethics | Health Outcomes | Health Systems | Policy/Regulation | Government/Law | Health/Medicine -
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…
Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Costing Methods | Economics/Finance | North America | Preferences/Values | Priority Setting/Ethics | Social Determinants | Environmental Health | Health Systems | Policy/Regulation | Climate/Environment | Food/Agriculture | Health/Medicine -
ArticlePublication 2015Three Interventions That Reduce Childhood Obesity
Policy makers seeking to reduce childhood obesity must prioritize investment in treatment and primary prevention. …
Policy makers seeking to reduce childhood obesity must prioritize investment in treatment and primary prevention. The authors estimated the cost-effectiveness of seven interventions high on the obesity policy agenda: (1) a sugar-sweetened beverage excise tax, (2) elimination of the tax subsidy for advertising unhealthy food to children, (3) restaurant menu calorie labeling, (4) nutrition standards for school meals, (5) nutrition standards for all other food and beverages sold in schools, (6) improved early care and…
Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Costing Methods | Economics/Finance | North America | Child/Nutrition | Health Systems | Policy/Regulation | Clinical Care | Health/Medicine -
ArticlePublication 2015Population Health Model (POHEM): An Overview
This paper provides an overview of the rationale, methodology and applications of the Population Health …
This paper provides an overview of the rationale, methodology and applications of the Population Health Model (POHEM). POHEM is a health microsimulation model, developed at Statistics Canada in the early 1990s. The authors describe that POHEM draws together rich multivariate data from a wide range of sources to simulate the lifecycle of the Canadian population, specifically focusing on aspects of health. The model dynamically simulates individuals’ disease states, risk factors, and health determinants, in order…
Evidence Synthesis | Costing Methods | Economics/Finance | North America | Mathematical Models | Microsimulation | Calibration/Validation | Chronic Disease/Risk | Health Systems | Policy/Regulation | Clinical Care | Health/Medicine -
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…
Technology Assessment | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Economics/Finance | North America | Priority Setting/Ethics | Infectious Diseases | Child/Nutrition | Chronic Disease/Risk | Health Systems | Policy/Regulation | Government/Law | Health/Medicine -
ReviewPublication 2001Modeling for Health Care and Other Policy Decisions: Uses, Roles and Validity
This is a review article of the role of modeling approaches to guide decision making …
This is a review article of the role of modeling approaches to guide decision making in health care and other domains. The role of models to support recommendations on the cost-effective use of medical technologies and pharmaceuticals is controversial. At the heart of the controversy is the degree to which experimental or other empirical evidence should be required prior to model use. The authors argue that the controversy stems in part from a misconception that…
Evidence Synthesis | Technology Assessment | Economics/Finance | North America | Priority Setting/Ethics | Mathematical Models | Environmental Health | Health Systems | Policy/Regulation | Business/Industry | Climate/Environment | Energy/Engineering | Government/Law | Health/Medicine