Economic Outcomes Assessment Quiz

Economic Outcomes Assessment

• Economic outcomes assessment evaluates the costs associated with programs or treatments.

Cost Definitions

• Fixed Costs:
  • Do not vary with output in the short term (around one year).
  • Include expenditures such as rent and certain salaries.
• Variable Costs:
  • Change with the level of output.
  • Examples include supplies and service fees.
• Incremental Costs:
  • Additional expenses incurred to achieve more benefits from alternative strategies.
• Opportunity Cost:
  • Represents forgone benefits from using resources in a specific way instead of its best alternative.
  • Central concept in economics illustrating lost opportunities, crucial for resource allocation.

Types of Costs Related to Health Care Products and Services

• Direct Costs:

  • Resources used in preventing or treating disease.
  • Direct Medical Costs:
    • Associated with immediate medical care expenses like hospital stays, medications, and tests.
  • Direct Non-Medical Costs:
    • Costs outside of medical care, such as transportation and family care due to illness.

• Indirect Costs:

  • Costs linked to changes in productivity due to disease or health interventions.
  • Morbidity Costs:
    • Result from lost productivity when individuals miss work due to illness.
  • Mortality Costs:
    • Financial impact arising from premature death leading to loss of potential labor.

• Intangible Costs:

  • Represent non-financial effects of illness and medical care, difficult to quantify.
  • Include pain and suffering, reflecting qualitative impacts that cannot be assigned a monetary value.