Chapter 2
What the ADePT Health Outcomes Module Does
The Health Outcomes module of ADePT Health allows users to analyze inequalities in health, health care utilization, and health subsidies, by income or any continuous (though not necessarily cardinal) measure of living standards or socioeconomic status. In what follows, “income” is often used as shorthand for whatever measure of living standards is being used. ADePT allows analysts to see whether inequalities, in, for example, the use of health care between the poor and rich, have narrowed over time or are smaller in one country than another. Users can also analyze whether (and how far) subsidies to the health sector disproportionately benefit the better off or the poor—that is, benefit incidence analysis, or BIA. ADePT can do quite simple analysis as well as more sophisticated analysis. The more sophisticated features of ADePT are indicated below with an asterisk. Users not familiar with the literature may wish to focus initially on the sections without an asterisk. Except where stated, the summary in this chapter relies on O’Donnell and others (2008).
Measuring Inequality in Outcomes and Utilization ADePT allows users to analyze differences in health outcomes or health care utilization across any subpopulation. However, the software’s strength lies in its ability to analyze inequalities in health outcomes and utilization by income or by some other measure of living standards.
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