TY - JOUR
T1 - Monetary conversion factors for economic evaluations of substance use disorders
AU - McCollister, Kathryn
AU - Yang, Xuan
AU - Sayed, Bisma
AU - French, Michael T.
AU - Leff, Jared A.
AU - Schackman, Bruce R.
N1 - Funding Information:
Financial support for this study was provided by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, P30DA040500 and R01DA035808. The content of this article is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the funding agencies or the U.S. government. Portions of this paper were presented at the European Association of Health Economics Conference in Hamburg, Germany on July 15, 2016 and the Addiction Health Services Research Conference in Seattle, WA on October 15, 2016. The authors wish to thank Jake R. Morgan, PhD, for his comments on an earlier draft of the manuscript. We also appreciate the substantive comments from two anonymous reviewers, which helped considerably in revising an earlier version of this manuscript. None of the authors have any conflicts of interest to disclose.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 The Authors
PY - 2017/10
Y1 - 2017/10
N2 - Aims Estimating the economic consequences of substance use disorders (SUDs) is important for evaluating existing programs and new interventions. Policy makers in particular must weigh program effectiveness with scalability and sustainability considerations in deciding which programs to fund with limited resources. This study provides a comprehensive list of monetary conversion factors for a broad range of consequences, services, and outcomes, which can be used in economic evaluations of SUD interventions (primarily in the United States), including common co-occurring conditions such as HCV and HIV. Methods Economic measures were selected from standardized clinical assessment instruments that are used in randomized clinical trials and other research studies (e.g., quasi-experimental community-based projects) to evaluate the impact of SUD interventions. National datasets were also reviewed for additional SUD-related consequences, services, and outcomes. Monetary conversion factors were identified through a comprehensive literature review of published articles as well as targeted searches of other sources such as government reports. Results Eight service/consequence/outcome domains were identified containing more than sixty monetizable measures of medical and behavioral health services, laboratory services, SUD treatment, social services, productivity outcomes, disability outcomes, criminal activity and criminal justice services, and infectious diseases consequences. Unit-specific monetary conversion factors are reported, along with upper and lower bound estimates, whenever possible. Conclusions Having an updated and standardized source of monetary conversion factors will facilitate and improve future economic evaluations of interventions targeting SUDs and other risky behaviors. This exercise should be repeated periodically as new sources of data become available to maintain the timeliness, comprehensiveness, and quality of these estimates.
AB - Aims Estimating the economic consequences of substance use disorders (SUDs) is important for evaluating existing programs and new interventions. Policy makers in particular must weigh program effectiveness with scalability and sustainability considerations in deciding which programs to fund with limited resources. This study provides a comprehensive list of monetary conversion factors for a broad range of consequences, services, and outcomes, which can be used in economic evaluations of SUD interventions (primarily in the United States), including common co-occurring conditions such as HCV and HIV. Methods Economic measures were selected from standardized clinical assessment instruments that are used in randomized clinical trials and other research studies (e.g., quasi-experimental community-based projects) to evaluate the impact of SUD interventions. National datasets were also reviewed for additional SUD-related consequences, services, and outcomes. Monetary conversion factors were identified through a comprehensive literature review of published articles as well as targeted searches of other sources such as government reports. Results Eight service/consequence/outcome domains were identified containing more than sixty monetizable measures of medical and behavioral health services, laboratory services, SUD treatment, social services, productivity outcomes, disability outcomes, criminal activity and criminal justice services, and infectious diseases consequences. Unit-specific monetary conversion factors are reported, along with upper and lower bound estimates, whenever possible. Conclusions Having an updated and standardized source of monetary conversion factors will facilitate and improve future economic evaluations of interventions targeting SUDs and other risky behaviors. This exercise should be repeated periodically as new sources of data become available to maintain the timeliness, comprehensiveness, and quality of these estimates.
KW - Cost-benefit analysis
KW - Cost-effectiveness analysis
KW - Economic consequences
KW - Economic evaluation
KW - Monetary conversion factors
KW - Substance use disorders
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jsat.2017.07.008
DO - 10.1016/j.jsat.2017.07.008
M3 - Article
C2 - 28847452
AN - SCOPUS:85026546847
VL - 81
SP - 25
EP - 34
JO - Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment
JF - Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment
SN - 0740-5472
ER -