Workshop: Social Cost-Benefit Analyses in Public Health

Abstract

Abstract Economic evaluation in health care has a long-standing tradition in Europe, especially in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. The incorporation of economic evaluations in resource allocation decisions is increasingly becoming embedded in national guidelines. In other fields, however, the social cost-benefit analysis (SCBA) framework has been used for a vast period of time, especially in fields such as logistics or transportation. A social cost-benefit analysis (SCBA) evaluates the favorable and adverse effects of policy actions and the associated opportunity costs of those actions. The favorable effects are defined as the benefits, and the opportunities foregone are defined as the economic costs. The SCBA provides an overview of all effects, risks and uncertainties of a policy, and the resulting advantages and disadvantages for society as a whole. By quantifying and monetary valuing these advantages and disadvantages as much as possible in Euros, the SCBA provides insight into the impact of the measure on social welfare, expressed as the balance of benefits (in Euros) minus the costs. In 2013, Dutch guidelines were developed for the proper and standardized execution of SCBA of future policies in public health. Building on this increased awareness, in 2014, the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) published reports on SCBA for prevention and care. Since then, a few SCBA’s have been published which evaluated various regulatory policies. The aim of this session will be to elaborate on 1) the SCBA methodology and to provide a brief introduction to methodological aspects (no abstract provided); 2) a SCBA to evaluate the consequences of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for alcohol and cannabis addiction; 3) a SCBA to evaluate the consequences of tobacco control policies; and 4) a SCBA to evaluate the consequences of three policies to limit alcohol use; and 5) a SCBA to evaluate the consequences of two interventions to prevent toxoplasmosis. Key messages SCBA is a fairly new method in health care to map the consequences of long-term policy measures. With the help of an SCBA it is possible to indicate who pays for and who benefits from an intervention.