Programs for Seniors Assessing Costs and Potential Returns of Evidence-Based

AbstractThe authors describe the customary tools used by health servicesresearchers to conduct economic evaluations of health interventions.Recognizing the inherent challenges of these tools for utilization in contem-porary public health practice, we recommend a practical cost benefitanalysis (PCBA) to allow public health practitioners to assess the economicmerits of their existing public health programs. The PCBA estimates whathealth effects and corresponding medical cost avoidance would be requiredto support the costs associated with implementing a community-basedprevention program. We apply the PCBA to evaluate a statewideevidence-based falls prevention program for seniors in Texas. We estimatea positive return on realized costs due to avoided direct and indirect 1 Department of Health Policy and Management, School of Rural Public Health, Texas A&MHealth Science Center, College Station, TX, USA 2 Department of Social and Behavioral Health, School of Rural Public Health, Texas A&MHealth Science Center, College Station, TX, USACorresponding Author:Thomas R. Miller, Health Services Research, Department of Health Policy and Management,School of Rural Public Health, Texas A&M Health Science Center, 1266 TAMU, CollegeStation, TX 77843, USAEmail: trmiller@srph.tamhsc.edu