Economic Evaluation Resources

Developing economic methods for implementation science

Measuring the cost of implementation efforts is crucial for informing future policy and program decisions, yet economic methods for implementation science are lacking.

Established in 1999 to support economic research on increasing healthcare efficiency and value, HSR&D's Health Economics Resource Center (HERC) is leading VA efforts to identify best practices and develop resources and tools for economic evaluations in implementation science.

HERC Resources

Steps to Conducting Economic Analyses for Implementation Initiatives to support the development of an economic evaluation plan
Guidance Documents and Forms for tracking implementation costs
Selection of Journal Articles for learning more about the economics of implementation

HERC is facilitating the Cost and Implementation Workgroup, which is comprised of more than 90 implementation scientists and economists across the nation. With support from QUERI and the National Cancer Institute, the Workgroup is sharing economic evaluation methods and developing a collection of papers in Implementation Science and Implementation Science Communications considering key issues in economic evaluation in implementation science and highlighting approaches and examples to inform the field.

If you are a currently funded QUERI investigator, you can contact HERC (herc@va.gov) for a telephone consultation on the economic methods for your QUERI project. Learn more.

Selected Publications for Further Reading

Wagner TH. Rethinking How We Measure Costs in Implementation Research. J Gen Intern Med. 2020 Nov;35(Suppl 2):870-874. doi: 10.1007/s11606-020-06104-6. Epub 2020 Oct 26. PMID: 33107005; PMCID: PMC7652969.
Wagner TH, Dopp AR, Gold HT. Estimating Downstream Budget Impacts in Implementation Research. Med Decis Making. 2020 Nov;40(8):968-977. doi: 10.1177/0272989X20954387. Epub 2020 Sep 19. PMID: 32951506.
Wagner TH, Yoon J, Jacobs JC, So A, Kilbourne AM, Yu W, Goodrich DE. Estimating Costs of an Implementation Intervention. Med Decis Making. 2020 Nov;40(8):959-967. doi: 10.1177/0272989X20960455. Epub 2020 Oct 20. PMID: 33078681.
Yoon, J. Including Economic Evaluations in Implementation Science. J GEN INTERN MED 35, 985–987 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-020-05649-w

Quality Enhancement Research Initiative