Table 1 Types of economic evaluation for mHealth
From: Defining a staged-based process for economic and financial evaluations of mHealth programs
Definition | Costs | Consequences | Primary audience | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Economic evaluations | ||||
Cost effectiveness analysis | Comparison of two alternatives where consequences of the programme are measured in natural units | Monetary units | Natural units (life years gained, lives saved, cases detected) | Decision-takers within a speciality |
Cost utility analyses | Form of CEA where consequence is measure in terms of healthy years | Monetary units | Summary measure of population health: QALYs or DALYs | Health sector government NGO Decision takers across sectors |
Cost benefit analysisa | Comparison of two alternatives where consequences of the programme are measured in monetary terms. | Monetary units | Monetary units | Decision takers across sectors |
Extended cost effectiveness analysis | Form of CEA which assesses both the financial risk protection (catastrophic health costs averted, cases of poverty averted, money-metric value of insurance) and the equitable distribution of costs and health gains across population sub-groups and to policy makers | Monetary units | Health gains garnered across population sub-groups; may also use a summary measure of population health (QALYs or DALYs) | Health sector government NGO Decision takers across sectors |
Cost consequence analysis | Form of CBA which examines costs and consequences but does not aggregate consequences into a single measure | Monetary units | Natural units | Decision takers across sectors |
Cost minimization analysis | Compares relative costs of interventions with effects that are assumed to be equivalent | Monetary units | Assumed to be equivalent | Decision-takers within a speciality |
Partial evaluations | ||||
Costing analysis | Comparison of the costs of two or more programs | Monetary units | Not applicable | Decision-takers within a speciality |
Cost description analysis | Describes the costs of a single program | Monetary units | Not applicable | Decision-takers within a speciality |
Cost outcome description analysis | Describes the costs and consequences of a single program | Monetary units | Natural units (life years gained, lives saved, cases detected) | Decision-takers within a speciality |
Financial evaluations | ||||
Financial forecast model | Estimates the financial and accounting profile of the capital and operational cash flow and income and expenditure of a project option over its whole life-cycle for comparison with budgets and financial plans to seek affordability | Monetary units | Not applicable | Reimbursement authorities |
Budget impact analysis | Estimates the financial consequences of an intervention and its diffusion within a specific health-care setting or system context given resource constraints | Monetary units | Number of beneficiaries or affected individuals | Reimbursement authorities |
OneHealth | National strategic health planning tool which provides analysts with a single framework which includes scenario analysis, costing, health impact analysis, budgeting and financing of strategies for all major diseases and health system components. Outputs facilitate (1) the identification of resource needs to implement a strategic health plan; (2) the determination of costs for the strategic plan by year and input; and (3) estimates of health impact [49] | Monetary units | Natural units (lives saved) | National planners |