Advantages of the Net Benefit Regression Framework for Economic Evaluations of Interventions in the Workplace A Case Study of the Cost-Effectiveness of a Collaborative Mental Health Care Program for People Receiving Short-Term Disability Benefits for Psychiatric Disorders

Objective: Economic evaluations commonly accompany trials of new treatments or interventions; however, regression methods and their corresponding advantages for the analysis of cost-effectiveness data are not well known. Methods: To illustrate regression-based economic evaluation, we present a case study investigating the cost-effectiveness of a collaborative mental health care program for people receiving short-term disability benefits for psychiatric disorders. We implement net benefit regression to illustrate its strengths and limitations. Results: Net benefit regression offers a simple option for cost-effectiveness analyses of person-level data. By placing economic evaluation in a regression framework, regression-based techniques can facilitate the analysis and provide simple solutions to commonly encountered challenges. Conclusions: Economic evaluations of person-level data (eg, from a clinical trial) should use net benefit regression to facilitate analysis and enhance results.