Rapid Costing Study

When you need this

You need a credible cost per service, per patient or per beneficiary — for a budget submission, a grant proposal, a scale-up plan or a cost-effectiveness analysis — and you do not have the time or budget for a large primary data collection.

What is included

• Agree the costing question, perspective (provider, programme or societal), time period and currency with you
• Map the resources used to deliver the service, using the ingredients (bottom-up) approach, a top-down allocation, or both
• Collect existing data from financial records, programme reports, procurement prices and published sources
• Separate financial and economic costs, and annualise capital costs where needed
• Calculate unit costs and a breakdown by input (staff, commodities, equipment, overheads)
• Test the result with sensitivity analysis on the most uncertain inputs

What you receive

• Short report with unit costs, cost breakdown and methods, aligned with the Global Health Cost Consortium reference case
• Costing workbook with every input traced to its source
• Summary slide deck for decision-makers or funders

How it works

1. 01

   Scoping call

   We agree the question, the perspective, the data you hold and the deadline. You receive a written proposal setting out the scope, timeline and price.

2. 02

   Data request and collection

   We send a structured data request and work with your finance and programme teams to fill the gaps.

3. 03

   Analysis and quality control

   We build the costing workbook; a second analyst checks it before results are shared.

4. 04

   Results and handover

   We present the results, agree any revisions and hand over the report and workbook.

Every engagement follows our methods and standards, including independent quality control.

Free resources for this package

All free resources

Frequently asked questions