Resources Repository
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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 | Priority Setting/Ethics | Mathematical Models | Government/Law | Energy/Engineering | Technology Assessment | Environmental Health | Health Systems | Policy/Regulation | Business/Industry | Climate/Environment | Economics/Finance | Health/Medicine | North America -
ReviewPublication 1982Decision Analysis: An Overview
This article, written for the non-decision analyst, describes what decision analysis is, what it can …
This article, written for the non-decision analyst, describes what decision analysis is, what it can and cannot do, why one should care to do this, and how one does it. Keeney describes decision analysis as "a formalization of common sense for decision problems which are too complex for informal use of common sense." He provides a more technical definition also, describing decision analysis as "a philosophy, articulated by a set of logical axioms, and a methodology…
Preferences/Values | Decision Theory | Government/Law | Energy/Engineering | Decision Analysis | Policy/Regulation | Business/Industry | Economics/Finance | Health/Medicine | Military/Defense | Science/Technology -
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 | Preferences/Values | Food/Agriculture | Costing Methods | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Social Determinants | Environmental Health | Health Systems | Policy/Regulation | Climate/Environment | Economics/Finance | Health/Medicine | North America -
ReviewPublication 2016Decision Support for Infectious Disease Control
This report from RAND reviews decision-support tools, including models and nonmodeling approaches, that are relevant to …
This report from RAND reviews decision-support tools, including models and nonmodeling approaches, that are relevant to infectious disease prevention, detection, and response and aligns these tools with real-world policy questions that the tools can help address. This overview is designed to help modelers and other technical experts understand the questions that policymakers will raise and the decisions they must make. The report also presents policymakers with the capabilities and limitations of the different tools that may…
Microsimulation | Mathematical Models | Government/Law | State-Transition | Dynamic Transmission | Dynamic Simulation | Infectious Diseases | Global Governance | Health/Medicine | Military/Defense | Global -
ReviewPublication 2015Agent-Based Models and Microsimulation
This article reviews the principles and applications of agent-based models (ABMs). ABMs are computational models …
This article reviews the principles and applications of agent-based models (ABMs). ABMs are computational models used to simulate the actions and interactions of “agents” within a system. Usually, each agent has a set of rules for how he or she responds to the environment and to other agents. These models are used to gain insight into the emergent behavior of complex systems with many agents, in which the emergent behavior depends upon the micro-level behavior…
Microsimulation | Mathematical Models | Energy/Engineering | State-Transition | Dynamic Simulation | Health/Medicine | Military/Defense | Science/Technology -
ReviewPublication 2011Simulation Models of Obesity: A Review of the Literature
Simulation models combine information from a variety of sources to provide a useful tool for …
Simulation models combine information from a variety of sources to provide a useful tool for examining how the effects of obesity unfold over time and impact population health. They can aid in the understanding of the complex interaction of the drivers of diet and activity and their relation to health outcomes. This paper provided an overview of different types of simulation models used to evaluate the potential impact of policies to address the obesity epidemic.…
Microsimulation | Mathematical Models | Food/Agriculture | State-Transition | Calibration/Validation | Decision Analysis | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Child/Nutrition | Chronic Disease/Risk | Economics/Finance | Health/Medicine -
ReviewPublication 2006Ethical Issues in Resource Allocation, Research, and New Product Development
Ethical dilemmas arising in setting priorities among interventions and among individuals in need of care …
Ethical dilemmas arising in setting priorities among interventions and among individuals in need of care are most acute when needs are great and resources few. This chapter from the Disease Control Priorities in Developing Countries 2nd edition addresses some of these concerns, identifying some of the principal ethical issues that arise in the development and allocation of effective interventions for developing countries and discussing some alternative resolutions. Resource allocation in health and elsewhere should satisfy two main…
Priority Setting/Ethics | Preferences/Values | Government/Law | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Culture/Society | Health/Medicine | Science/Technology -
ReviewPublication 2016Economic Dimensions of Noncommunicable Diseases in Latin America and the Caribbean
This companion volume to Disease Control Priorities, Third Edition (DCP3), explores the impact of noncommunicable diseases …
This companion volume to Disease Control Priorities, Third Edition (DCP3), explores the impact of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) on development and economic growth in the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). This collection of manuscripts examines the complex interplay among NCDs, health expenditures and financial investments in health, poverty, and inequities, using up-to-date information and evidence from the LAC region. There is compelling proof that NCDs are a major and growing problem for low- and…
Priority Setting/Ethics | Food/Agriculture | Costing Methods | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Technology Assessment | Child/Nutrition | Chronic Disease/Risk | Mental Health | Social Determinants | Health Systems | Policy/Regulation | Economics/Finance | Health/Medicine | Latin America & Caribbean -
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 | Government/Law | Costing Methods | Health Outcomes | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Health Systems | Policy/Regulation | Economics/Finance | Health/Medicine | North America