Volume 10 — February 14, 2013
ESSAY
An Integrated Framework for Assessing the Value of Community-Based Prevention: A Report of the Institute of Medicine
A new framework is proposed for valuing community-based prevention interventions. This framework takes a comprehensive view of both the benefits and harms in the 3 major domains of health, community well-being, and community process as well as a comprehensive view of the resource use (both savings and costs) associated with such interventions. The framework then proposes a summary metric called “community benefit” that summarizes the value assigned to the 3 domains of health. It also assigns a summary metric on the cost side called the “community costs.” Finally, the framework considers the value metric of community-based prevention initiatives as the ratio of community benefit to community costs, which ultimately reflects a comprehensive view of all benefits, harms, savings, and costs of the interventions considered.
Figure. Framework for assessing the value of community-based prevention interventions, 2012. Abbreviations: QALYs, quality-adjusted life years; HALE, health-adjusted life expectancy. Reprinted with permission from the Institute of Medicine.
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