Economic Evaluation
MEASURE Evaluation advanced the knowledge base of health programs by conducting economic evaluations of health services and interventions through costing exercises and analyses of cost-effectiveness. Understanding what health services cost and their cost-effectiveness are important elements in deciding how to manage and design health programs.
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To learn how this work is continuing after the MEASURE Evaluation project, please visit Data for Impact. |
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Understanding what health services cost can help programs manage funds and budgets more effectively, estimate government financial support, set patient charges per service with increased accuracy, or inform resource allocation decisions for service provision. Information about the cost of services, both across an organization and at individual sites, makes it easier to allocate resources appropriately and reduce costs. At the program level, knowing what services cost improves planning and budget tracking, and reveals potential funding gaps.
Cost-effectiveness analyses help decision makers understand the relative value-for-money of a given health activity in comparison with other health activities. Such analyses can inform decisions about whether to continue or scale up an intervention. Cost-effectiveness analyses can also identify efficiencies (or inefficiencies) in service delivery, by comparing one clinic to another or one program to another, and inform resource allocation decisions.
MEASURE Evaluation worked on economic evaluation in the following areas:
- Developing a general Reproductive Health Cost Reporting System that allows programs to collect existing data and estimate the cost of providing specific health services at the service delivery point and at regional and national levels
- Developing a Guide to Economic Evaluation Methods in Health, which introduces basic costing and cost-effectiveness approaches to researchers and public health planners who are unfamiliar with economic analysis
- Conducting costing studies of specified health and social service interventions, with capacity to address multi-component service delivery sectors
- Conducting cost-effectiveness analyses of health program interventions in conjunction with larger health program evaluations
- Supporting capacity building for economic evaluation to in-country partners
- Assessing the cost of programmatic scale-up
Related Content
A Guide to the Fundamentals of Economic Evaluation in Public Health
Introduction to the MEASURE Evaluation Reproductive Health Cost Reporting System
Contextualizing Case Management Costs in Orphan and Vulnerable Children Programs
