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Harvard Medical School Office of Communications &
External Relations
Calculating preventative medicine’s return on
investment
FINDINGS:
Researchers have developed a prototype “return on
investment calculator” that can calculate the value of
prevention services delivered by mobile health clinics. Using a
Boston-based mobile health clinic called the “Family Van” to
test the tool, the team found that for the services provided in
2008, this program will return $36 for every dollar invested.
RELEVANCE:
As health care costs in the US spiral out of control,
preventative actions are clearly one solution. Until now,
however, no one has yet quantified the value of investing in
non-traditional prevention programs such as mobile health
clinics.
BOSTON, Mass. (June 2, 2009) — There are many
reasons why health care costs in the US are spiraling
out of control: ineffective use of resources, unmanaged chronic conditions and infrequent
implementations of proven prevention strategies all contribute. While it stands to reason that
preventative actions are one solution, no one has yet quantified the value of investing in
non-traditional prevention programs.
Researchers from Harvard Medical School have led the development of a prototype “return
on investment calculator” that can measure the value of prevention services. Using a
Boston-based mobile health program called the “Family Van” to test the tool, the team found
that for the services provided in 2008, this program, in the long run, will return $36 for every
dollar invested.
“People talk about the value of preventative
measures all the time, but no one has ever really
captured the important contribution of the man