This chapter provides an introduction to budget-impact analysis. Because of concerns about rising health-care expenditures, health-care budget holders are interested in estimates of how new health-care interventions will change expenditures or budgets for health systems. Budget-impact analyses develop estimates of these changes with the introduction of the new intervention. These estimates are based on the expected changes in resource use and cost for the mix of interventions and the condition-related outcomes in the population of interest over a given period in the future. Budget-impact analysis differs from cost-effectiveness analysis in perspective, population, interventions compared, time horizon, and outcomes. Many jurisdictions worldwide have developed guidance documents for individuals who perform such analyses and for individuals who review them. Based on these guidelines, we present an overview of the components that should be included in every budget-impact analysis.
