Abstract
BackgroundHealth disparities are pervasive and are linked to economic losses in the United States of up to $135 billion per year. The Flint Center for Health Equity Solutions (FCHES) is a Transdisciplinary Collaborative Center for health disparities research funded by the National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD). The purpose of this study was to estimate the economic impact of the 5-year investment in FCHES in Genesee County, Michigan.MethodsThe estimated impacts of FCHES were calculated using a U.S.-specific input/output (I/O) model, IMPLAN, from IMPLAN Group, LLC., which provides a software system to access geographic specific data regarding economic sector interactions from a variety of sources. This allowed us to model the cross-sector economic activity that occurred throughout Genesee County, Michigan, as a result of the FCHES investment. The overall economic impacts were estimated as the sum of three impact types: 1. Direct (the specific expenditures impact of FCHES and the Scientific Research and Development Services sector); 2. Indirect (the impact on suppliers to FCHES and the Scientific Research and Development Services sector); and 3. Induced (the additional economic impact of the spending of these suppliers and employees in the county economy).ResultsThe total FCHES investment amounted to approximately $11 million between 2016 and 2020. Overall, combined direct, indirect, and induced impacts of the total FCHES federal investment in Genesee County included over 161 job-years, over $7.6 million in personal income, and more than $19.2 million in economic output. In addition, this combined economic activity generated close to $2.3 million in state/local and federal tax revenue. The impact multipliers show the ripple effect of the FCHES investment. For example, the overall output of over $19.2 million led to an impact multiplier of 1.75 – every $1 of federal FCHES investment led to an additional $.75 of economic output in Genesee County.ConclusionsThe FCHES research funding yields significant direct economic impacts above and beyond the direct NIH investment of $11 million. The economic impact estimation method may be relevant and generalizable to other large research centers such as FCHES.
Highlights
Health disparities are pervasive and are linked to economic losses in the United States of up to $135 billion per year
The theoretical I/O framework used by IMPLAN was developed by Wassily Leontief, for which he received the Nobel Prize in 1973. The purpose of this current study was to estimate the economic impact of the 5-year National Institutes of Health (NIH) research investment in FCHES in Genesee County, Michigan and to provide an economic evaluation model potentially replicable by other Transdisciplinary Collaborative Center (TCC) and other large research centers
Through the spending of the center, additional indirect impacts were generated in Genesee County, including more than 7 job-years, close to $331,000 personal income to employed persons, and almost $900,000 in additional economic output
Summary
Health disparities are pervasive and are linked to economic losses in the United States of up to $135 billion per year. The Think Tank issued a set of recommendations for reducing health inequities in the United States, which included embracing broad and inclusive research themes that incorporate multilevel factors; developing research platforms for innovative transdisciplinary research that promote systems science approaches; developing networks of collaborators and stakeholders, and launching transformative studies that can serve as benchmarks; optimizing the use of new data sources, platforms, and natural experiments; and developing unique transdisciplinary training programs to build research capacity. As health and disparities are affected by diverse public and private stakeholders, addressing health disparities requires a transdisciplinary approach and strong collaborations between researchers and community organizations, health providers and systems, government agencies, and other stakeholders. Such an approach ensures that findings translate into sustainable changes at multiple levels to reduce inequities in health and improve population health
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