Table 1.

Types of economic evaluation and decision levels.

Type	Description	Measures	Decision level
PARTIAL ECONOMIC EVALUATION
Cost of illness analysis	Disease economic burden	Net cost ($)	Public health decision-makers at the local, state, and national levels
Program cost analysis	Net program cost	Net cost ($)	Public health decision-makers at the local, state, and national levels
			First step to CEA, CUA, and CBA
FULL ECONOMIC EVALUATION
Cost-benefit analysis (CBA)	Compares different programs with different outcomes (e.g., health vs. other area)	Benefit-cost ratio ($benefit: $cost)	National level and broader perspective, such as the President and Congress (e.g.,: Congress needs to decide between investments in health or investments for another program)
Cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA)	Compares interventions with the same outcomes (ex: between two cervical cancer interventions)	Cost-effectiveness ratio ($per case averted)	Program level (ex: a cancer program director decides to fund one of two possible cervical cancer prevention interventions)
Cost utility analysis (CUA)	Compares interventions with different health outcomes (ex: cervical cancer vs. Alzheimer’s disease)	Cost-utility ratio ($per QALY saved)	Agency level (ex: the CDC or a local health agency director decides between funding cervical cancer or Alzheimer’s disease interventions)