Cost-Benefit and Cost-Effectiveness Analysis in Occupational Health.
NIOSH 1987 Jul:71-80
Cost benefit and cost effectiveness in occupational health care were discussed. According to the author, in any company economic realities require that occupational health programs be evaluated just as critically as other expenditures. Cost benefit and cost effectiveness analyses are two related mathematical procedures for determining the ratio of the expense of a program to the program's outcomes (benefits or effects). A cost benefit analysis requires that a monetary value be placed on the costs and benefits of a program. The advantage of a cost benefit analysis is that dissimilar things can be compared directly. The disadvantage of a cost benefit analysis is that it is frequently difficult to attach a definite economic value to the desired outcomes of an occupational health program. Cost effectiveness analysis is used when it is not feasible to assign a definite monetary value to program outcomes. Cost effectiveness analysis is performed by using the same steps as a cost benefit analysis except that units of effectiveness are used in place of dollars. For example, a cost effectiveness analysis of an occupational health program might assess the decrease in absenteeism among the workforce after the program was put in effect. Steps in conducting a cost benefit or cost effectiveness analysis were enumerated. Techniques for measuring costs, benefits, and effects were described.
Occupational-health; Mathematical-models; Simulation-methods; Employees; Occupational-health-programs; Health-care-personnel; Health-protection;
Proceedings of the National Occupational Health Nursing Symposium: State of the Art and Directions for the Future, Cincinnati, Ohio, June 1-3, 1983