A healthcare payer only evaluates insurance reimbursement costs without productivity losses. What perspective is being used?

• A. Payer perspective
• B. Societal perspective
• C. Direct costs
• D. Indirect costs

Answer: (A)

In economic evaluations, the perspective determines whose costs and benefits are counted. If a payer analyzes only insurance reimbursement costs and ignores productivity losses, the focus is on costs borne by the payer. This is the payer perspective: it includes reimbursement-related costs to the payer and excludes indirect costs like lost productivity. A societal perspective would require including productivity losses and costs across all stakeholders, not just the payer. Indirect costs refer to those productivity losses, which are outside the payer’s budget, while direct costs are the costs directly tied to care. The scenario described matches the payer perspective.