Quantitative policy analysis and public health policy: a macro and micro view.

This article considers three examples of the use of quantitative policy analysis in setting public health policy: (1) benefit:cost and cost-effectiveness studies of influenza immunization and their role in achieving Medicare reimbursement for influenza immunization; (2) the 1993 World Bank World Development Report, which compared the burden of various health problems in different regions of the world and the cost-effectiveness of interventions for these problems, recommending a core set of public health and primary care services as being the most cost-effective; and (3) the role of the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research and how it might change if health care reform legislation such as President Clinton's original proposal were to be enacted. Finally, I describe the use of quantitative policy analysis to guide policy in one government agency--the Centers for Disease control and Prevention (CDC).