Accounting for planetary boundaries in health economic evaluation

Introduction: Health economic evaluation (HEE) provides guidance for decision-making in the face of scarcity but ignores ecological scarcities as long as they involve external costs only. Following the imperative to account for planetary health, this study explores how this blind spot can be addressed.

Areas covered: The study is based on a critical review of relevant work, particularly in the fields of HEE and life cycle assessment (LCA). LCA can provide information on a technology’s environmental impacts which can be accounted for on both the effect and cost sides of HEE. Cost–benefit analyses can incorporate environmental impacts in case vignettes used for eliciting consumers’ willingness to pay. Existing LCA impact models can be used to estimate human health risks associated with environmental impacts and add them to the health benefits in cost-utility analyses. Many jurisdictions offer lists of shadow prices that can be used to incorporate environmental impacts on the cost side of HEE. Also, environmental impacts can be reported in a disaggregated manner.

Expert opinion: Accounting for planetary boundaries is likely to become a key field of methodological innovation in HEE. Decision relevance is likely to be highest for technologies with similar cost-effectiveness but different ecological impacts.