Analyze and comment on economic analyses of health administrative innovations that are germane to the provision of health services. How have these innovations become more important in health care delivery within the context of the Affordable Care Act? Develop a list of similarities and differences between cost benefit analysis and cost effectiveness analysis as they pertain to specific health care service demands. Compare and contrast economic challenges and incentives as they relate specifically to cost benefit and cost effectiveness analyses.

Recommended Resources

Articles

Guo, J., Wade, T., Pan, W., & Keller, K. (2010). School-based health centers: Cost-benefit analysis and impact on health care disparities. American Journal of Public Health, 100(9), 1617-1623. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2009.185181

This article evaluated the impact of school-based health centers–which provide essential health care for students by aiming to eliminate many access barriers–on health care access disparities and conducted a cost–benefit analysis.

Hsu, S. H. (2011). Cost information and pricing: Empirical evidence. Contemporary Accounting Research, 28(2), 554-579. doi:10.1111/j.1911-3846.2010.01051.x

The article examines the relationship between service prices and unit-allocated capacity costs in firms that have committed themselves to long-term capacity requirements. Specifically, the author studies a private hospital in California using data gleaned from the years 1993 through 1999.

Luxton, D. D. (2013). Considerations for planning and evaluating economic analyses of telemental health. Psychological Services, 10(3), 276-282. doi:10.1037/a0030658

This article discusses the economic evaluation of telemental health (TMH) to inform ways to decrease the cost of delivering care, to improve access to care, and to make decisions about the allocation of resources. Previous reviews of telehealth economic analysis studies have concluded that there are significant methodological deficiencies and inconsistencies that limit the ability to make generalized conclusions about the costs and benefits of telehealth programs (Luxton, 2013).

Saleh, S. S., Freire, C., Morris-Dickinson, G., & Shannon, T. (2012). An effectiveness and cost-benefit analysis of a hospital-based discharge transition program for elderly medicare recipients. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 60(6), 1051-1056. doi:10.1111/j.1532-5415.2012.03992.x

This article investigated the business case of post discharge care transition (PDCT) among Medicare beneficiaries by conducting a cost-benefit analysis.

Smith, G. K. (2013). Medical price transparency. Insurance Advocate, 124(7), 40. Retrieved from the EBSOhost database.

The author reflects on the challenges in bringing transparent pricing in health care and discusses the steps to be taken to resolve the problem. He mentions that medical facilities need to exhibit transparent pricing to emerge from a competitive market and market economy. He informs that a tertiary hospital from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma is providing upfront pricing for procedures for an outpatient center.