Investing In Prevention - The Economic Perspective

This synthesis paper summarizes the current state of knowledge and debate about the economic benefits of prevention.  This includes evaluations of specific clinical, health protection, and health promotion interventions, as well as the potential micro- and macro-economic benefits of acting on broader determinants of health (e.g., early childhood development) for health and well-being.

The report

• highlights the economic potential of prevention,
• draws on examples of recent economic evaluations in key intervention areas to illustrate general research trends,
• discusses current gaps in evaluation knowledge, and
• outlines some of the critical methodological considerations to make when using economic evaluation evidence to inform policy and program decisions.

Consistent with other assessments of the economics of preventive health interventions, this survey of the recent evidence found that some interventions are cost-saving for the health system, and many others are cost-effective. Adopting a broader social determinants of health perspective can increase the likelihood of favourable cost-effectiveness, and potential for cost-savings, for many prevention initiatives.

Table of Contents

• 1. Overview
• 2. The economic rationale for investing in prevention
  • 2.1. The economic burden of illness in Canada
  • 2.2. Understanding the economic potential of prevention
• 3. A brief summary of the methodology
• 4. Key findings and messages
  • 4.1. Summarizing the evidence: economic evaluations of preventive health interventions
    • 4.1.1. Many preventive health interventions are cost-effective
    • 4.1.2. A subset of preventive health interventions are cost-saving from the health system perspective
    • 4.1.3. The cost-effectiveness of an intervention is highly sensitive to context
  • 4.2. Building the evidence: critical knowledge gaps in preventive health intervention evaluation
    • 4.2.1. Economic evaluations are inconsistently applied across the prevention spectrum
    • 4.2.2. Many preventive interventions have not been evaluated for their program effectiveness
  • 4.3. Expanding the evidence: the broad economic benefits of good health beyond the health sector
    • 4.3.1. Healthy public policies as preventive health interventions
    • 4.3.2. The potential economic impact of reduced health inequalities
  • 4.4. Using the evidence: key methodological considerations
• 5. Concluding considerations
• 6. References
• 7. Authors & Acknowledgements