Is there a role in results-based accountability for cost-savings outcomes?
One outcome measure that has proven useful — even though it is a departure from child and youth outcome measures — is an indicator of cost-savings that occur as a result of the provision of improved services. Although many important savings occur in budgets and at times that are far removed from the new or improved service, in instances when the savings can be directly attributed to the intervention, the evidence of cost-effectiveness can be dramatic and persuasive. For example, high quality prenatal care and supports have been shown to save several times their cost in neo-natal intensive care. We advocate using cost-savings measures as a supplement to individual outcome measures rather than as a substitute. E. What is the relationship between results-based accountability and evaluation research? The role of the evaluator and of evaluation research would undergo significant change in a world in which results-based accountability were the norm and not the exception and in which outcom
