Question

How might public health professionals conduct economic analyses to address the needs of a current public health issue in their community?

Answer 1

By definition, economics is the study of decisions, through the examination of program incentives and consequences, and the measure of service production, delivery, and consumption. Economic evaluation is defined as “the systematic appraisal of costs and benefits of projects, normally undertaken to determine the relative economic efficiency of programs.” Simply put, economic evaluation is the understanding and use of economic evidence in decision making.

Economic evaluation contributes to evidence-based decision making in public health by helping leaders and the community identify, measure, and compare activities with the necessary impact, scalability, and sustainability to optimize population health.

There are two levels of economic evaluation: partial and full. Partial economic evaluation measures program or disease costs, but does not involve a comparison with alternative options and does not relate costs to outcomes. Partial economic evaluations include cost-of-illness analysis and program cost analysis. In public health, full economic evaluation compares two or more public health interventions through the examination of costs of inputs and outcomes. Full economic evaluations include cost-benefit, cost-effectiveness, and cost-utility analyses.

In todays’ economic climate of low resources and funding for public health programs, public health practitioners will benefit from the use of economic evaluations to enhance public health evidence-based decision making. Economic evaluation could provide data to help public health practitioners and decision makers to identify, measure, and compare a project’s resource allocation with the project’s impact, scalability, and sustainability to optimize population health.

As with epidemiology, economic evaluations are becoming another cornerstone in the foundation of public health decision making. When asked “why are economic evaluations important to public health, “Evaluation of public health interventions most commonly focuses on the impact on health outcomes and health status. Evaluating health impact is critical; however, it is equally important to conduct economic evaluations of interventions. For public health interventions to result in sustainable change, they need to both be effective in addressing the health burden and be economically defensible.”

The health of our population will benefit from assuring that future generations of public health professionals are educated and trained in economic evaluation. Now, and in the future, it is essential for public health professionals to understand and use economic evaluations as part of a comprehensive public health decision-making process.