Budget impact analysis: a practical review of concepts and applications for the manager

Abstract

Health economics evaluations are essential for decision makers, since innovations can not always be incorporated according to expectations of users and industry. Therefore, the Budget Impact Analysis (BIA), one of the main tools in Health Technology Assessment (HTA), allows managers to estimate the potential number of individuals eligible for a given technology over the years, to predict how much it will be necessary to spend for incorporate the technology or, eventually, whether there will be savings in the payer’s coffers with the inclusion of the same. With the growing publication of scientific articles on BIA in Brazil, there is concern about the methodological quality of these studies. The objective of this review is to present key recommendations to elaborate an adequate BIA, commenting on four published studies, aiming to expose the practical utility of BIA for health managers. The presentation format of the BIA provides a quick understanding and has attributes that allows evidence of the highest value of health products and services among health decision makers, contributing to the best clinical and economic choices in public and private health systems. However, it should be noted in some studies there is still a lack of real-world evidence or epidemiological data for the estimates and insufficient using of tools to reduce parametric uncertainties.