Cost-Outcome analysis of assistive technology
Record number: 14
Last update: October 2019
Type of document: Lectures
Last update: October 2019
Type of document: Lectures
Author: Andrich R
Editorial data: Dispense Corso di Alta Formazione "Ausili per l'Autonomia e la Partecipazione". Associazione La Nostra Famiglia IRCCS E.Medea
Year of publication: 2019
Abstract:
An assistive solution can be considered appropriate when it meets two criteria: effectiveness (achievement of the expected outcomes) and efficiency (making optimal use of resources). The most appropriate efficiency indicator is the additional social cost, i.e. the overall amount of the costs incurred by all stakeholders (user, service, health, entities etc ...), minus the overall amount of costs that same actors would bear in the absence of the assistive solution. The purchase price of the assistive products is just a part of the total investment, hence is not a valid cost indicator. The additional social cost must be measured considering the entire life cycle of the equipment, in view of the results that we intend to achieve (outcome) and the cost of the "non-solution" (i.e. the social cost which would be incurred in case no assistive solution were implemented). The social cost of "non-solution" is often higher than the social cost of the solution, as the latter decreases the burden of assistance and provides the users (and their family or network) with greater autonomy. The lecture ends with illustrating an instrument able to measure of the additional social cost of assistive solution: the SCAI (Siva Cost Analysis Instrument), developed by the Don Gnocchi Foundation within a research programme funded by the Ministry of Health.
An assistive solution can be considered appropriate when it meets two criteria: effectiveness (achievement of the expected outcomes) and efficiency (making optimal use of resources). The most appropriate efficiency indicator is the additional social cost, i.e. the overall amount of the costs incurred by all stakeholders (user, service, health, entities etc ...), minus the overall amount of costs that same actors would bear in the absence of the assistive solution. The purchase price of the assistive products is just a part of the total investment, hence is not a valid cost indicator. The additional social cost must be measured considering the entire life cycle of the equipment, in view of the results that we intend to achieve (outcome) and the cost of the "non-solution" (i.e. the social cost which would be incurred in case no assistive solution were implemented). The social cost of "non-solution" is often higher than the social cost of the solution, as the latter decreases the burden of assistance and provides the users (and their family or network) with greater autonomy. The lecture ends with illustrating an instrument able to measure of the additional social cost of assistive solution: the SCAI (Siva Cost Analysis Instrument), developed by the Don Gnocchi Foundation within a research programme funded by the Ministry of Health.