Is an ounce of prevention really worth a pound of cure? Can early investments really prevent future public costs? Ongoing questions around how public resources are used makes preventive strategies particularly appealing. Yet, determining what prevention programs work and whether they save money can be difficult. On May 30, 2017, the NPSC and the Society for Prevention Research (SPR) co-hosted a briefing with nationally recognized experts who described ways to assess the cost-efficiency of evidence-based policy approaches that can improve health, reduce crime and delinquency, and increase economic security.

 

Specifically, speakers reviewed considerations for budgeting and investing in prevention at the federal level, including (i) examples of cost-effective policy tools from prevention science, (ii) interpreting the quality of economic and budget projection models, and (iii) a state-based model for comparing the value of policy approaches. A discussant on evidence-based policy further described efforts to replicate the cost-comparison tool across states.

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Due to technical difficulties, this session was not videotaped. We apologize for any inconvenience.

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