Analysis of the health economics portfolio funded by the National Institutes of Health in response to published guidance

Abstract

Health services, economics, and outcomes research (referred to as health economics research hereinafter) is one of the interdisciplinary sciences that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) supports in order to pursue its overall mission to improve health. In 2015, NIH guidance was published to clarify the type of health economics research that NIH would continue to fund. This analysis aimed to determine if there were changes in the number of health economics applications received and funded by NIH after the release of the guidance. Health economics applications submitted to NIH both before and after publication of the guidance were identified using a machine learning approach with input from subject matter experts. Application and funding trends were examined by fiscal year, method of application (solicited vs. unsolicited), and activity code. This study found that application and funding rates of health economics research were decreasing prior to guidance. Following publication of this guidance, the application and funding rate of health economics applications increased.