Frequently Asked Questions

The Pathways Clearinghouse provides cost information for interventions that have at least one supported or well-supported effectiveness rating. Cost information is located on the details page for an intervention, the page which supplies more context about interventions with favorable outcomes. All cost information reported on the website is based on data reported by study authors. We first convert these figures to their present value at study baseline (that is, at the time intervention services began, or at the time of random assignment for interventions studied using randomized controlled trial designs). Specifically, we discount costs that occurred over multiple years to their value at baseline because the value of a dollar is greater in the present than in the future. We assume a real rate of return of 3 percent annually. We then report those costs in 2018 dollars. Where there are multiple studies of an intervention rated high or moderate quality, we compute the simple average of costs reported across those studies, and the cost figure we report reflects the average set of intervention services provided.

Because the cost information is based on data reported by study authors, cost information is not directly comparable across interventions. The types of costs reported across interventions vary, as does the amount of time that interventions lasted. The Pathways Clearinghouse does not factor information on cost into the effectiveness ratings displayed on the website. However, the cost details provide a useful starting point for thinking about the costs to organizations that implemented the interventions.