PECUNIA Reference Unit Cost (RUC) compendium
The PECUNIA Reference Unit Cost (RUC) Compendium is a database that provides standardized unit costs for services and resources used across multiple sectors—like health, social care, education, justice, employment, and informal care—in several European countries. These costs are designed to be comparable across countries and sectors, supporting economic evaluations from a societal perspective.
At a glance
Use when
Conducting health economic evaluations with a societal perspective across multiple sectors and countries in Europe, especially when comparability and methodological transparency are critical.
Avoid when
Need for real-time or country-specific cost data outside the six covered countries or sectors, or when commercial use is intended without permission.
Inputs
Service and resource use items across multiple sectors (e.g., health, social care, education, justice, employment, informal care) in selected European countries.
Outputs
Reference Unit Costs (RUCs) in Euros (2019), with metadata and a certainty indicator for transparency and comparability.
How it works
The PECUNIA RUC Compendium is an Excel-based, multi-sectoral, multi-country database of Reference Unit Costs (RUCs) developed using standardized, scientifically validated methods by the PECUNIA Consortium (2019–2021). RUCs are derived using PECUNIA RUC Templates and align with the PECUNIA Costing Concept (including the Care Atom, Service Lists, and Coding System) to ensure methodological harmonization and cross-sectoral/cross-national comparability. Version 1.0 includes 2019 Euro-denominated RUCs for core service and resource items across health and social care, education, (criminal) justice, employment/productivity, and informal care sectors in Austria, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, England, and Spain. Each RUC includes metadata and a summary indicator of certainty reflecting costing robustness and external validation. The compendium is intended for non-commercial use with mandatory citation and is planned for ongoing updates and expansion.
- Project
- PECUNIA
- Funding
- Horizon 2020
- Project status
- Completed 2021
- HTA domains
- Costs & Economic Evaluation
- Categories
- Costing & Resource Use
- Technology
- Non-specific
- Assumptions
- Costs are standardized using a common conceptual framework (PECUNIA Costing Concept) to enable comparability across countries and sectors based on service content rather than linguistic or local definitions.
- Strengths
- Multi-sectoral and multi-country coverage with harmonized methodology,Enhanced transparency and comparability through standardized templates and coding,Includes certainty indicators based on costing robustness and external validation,Aligned with other PECUNIA tools for integrated use in economic evaluations
- Limitations
- Limited to specific European countries in Version 1.0,Restricted access to files requiring registration,Only covers a core set of service and resource items, not exhaustive,Data is static for 2019 and may require updating for current applications
- Geographic & clinical scope
- Austria; Germany; Hungary; The Netherlands; England; Spain
- Also known as
- PECUNIA RUC Compendium, PECUNIA Reference Unit Costs Compendium
Questions this answers
- › What are standardized unit costs for health and social care services in Europe?
- › How can I compare costs across different sectors like education, justice, and healthcare?
- › What unit costs are available for informal care or productivity loss in economic evaluations?
- › Which countries are covered in a harmonized costing database for societal perspective analyses?
- › How reliable are these unit cost estimates?
- › Where can I get multi-country unit costs that are methodologically consistent?
Related methods
Similar by meaning
Beta record. Generated from the primary source via AI extraction and independent audit, pending final human review.