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Table 4 Checklist of considerations when considering published guidance for the economic evaluation of public health interventions

From: Public health economics: a systematic review of guidance for the economic evaluation of public health interventions and discussion of key methodological issues

1

What is the appropriate theoretical framework for analysis e.g., welfarist, extra-welfarist, capability theory?

2

What is the setting of the public health intervention under evaluation? (e.g., environmental change; infectious disease control; screening; supporting behaviour change; supporting government legislation or policy)

3

Is this best described as a primary, secondary or tertiary prevention intervention i.e. upstream or downstream?

4

What is the main agency (government; health service; local government; voluntary sector) responsible for implementation and who are the key stakeholders?

5

If this is an intervention aimed at behaviour change, what are the key levers of change (legislation; price; changing social norms; choice architecture and nudging)?

6

What is the appropriate time horizon of analysis and what is the most appropriate discount rate for costs and outcomes?

7

If the public health intervention aims to “shift the curve”, are we most interested in the centre or tails of the distribution?

8

How is this public health intervention likely to impact on inequalities in health?

9

Will subgroup analysis help identify the range of cost effectiveness estimates across different settings, delivery methods and population groups?

10

What are the main outcome measures of interest e.g. QALYs/DALYs or a large range of outcome measures relating to health and wider social outcomes?

11

How important is it to value costs, benefits and returns in monetary terms? Is it reasonable to expect the intervention to be cost saving in the short, medium or long term?

12

How relevant will it be to compare an ICER with the NICE threshold of £20,000-30,000 or an international equivalent?