Abstract

In summary, a Whole Health approach reflects a view that:
1. Healthcare produces more than health (narrowly defined), implying a need to extend conventional measures of outcomes (eg, health-related quality of life, quality-adjusted life years) and value; and

In short, whole health implies that decision making should expand both what are considered as relevant inputs/costs and what are considered as relevant outputs/benefits. This entails extending the focus and scope of economic evaluation methods beyond healthcare interventions, expanding the commonly used health-sector perspective to address both wider outcomes and taking into account inputs and costs of policies and interventions across multiple sectors of the economy.