Stakeholder perspectives on costs and resource expenditures: tools for addressing economic issues most relevant to...

Cost and other resources required are often primary considerations in whether a potential program or policy will be adopted or implemented and an important element in determining value. However, few economic analyses are conducted from the perspective of patient/family or small-scale stakeholders such as local clinics. We outline and discuss alternative cost assessment and resource expenditures options from the perspective of these small, proximal stakeholders. The perspective of these persons differs from larger societal or health plan perspectives, and often differs across individuals in terms of what they value and the types of expenditures about which they are concerned. We discuss key features of the perspectives of patients, health care clinics, and local leaders, and present brief examples and sample templates for collection of consumer/stakeholder relevant cost and return on investment issues. These tools can be used prospectively and iteratively during program planning, intervention delivery, summative analysis, and preparation for dissemination stages. There is an important need for this type of feasible, pragmatic, rapid, and iterative cost and resource expenditure analysis directly relevant to patients/families, small local stakeholders and their organizations. Future research on and use of these approaches is recommended.