A research article on the BENEFITS project’s innovative approach to impact measurement has been published in the online eBook: Global Healthcare Transformation in the Era of Artificial Intelligence and Informatics. The publication follows the presentation of the project at the 23rd International Conference on Informatics, Management, and Technology in Healthcare (ICIMTH), held from 4 to 6 July 2025, in Athens, Greece.
The article presents the BENEFITS Holistic Valuation Framework and initial findings. This methodology goes beyond traditional GDP indicators to also measure social metrics and health outcomes simultaneously to create a more complete picture of the effectiveness of social service policies. The Framework synthesises data from multiple sources to provide a nuanced understanding of social service impacts. The BENEFITS project populates this framework through a blend of existing datasets from partner organisations and data collection methods.
These preliminary results, using data that incorporates regional demographic and socioeconomic indicators, suggest that integrating social service evaluations into municipal health budgets could result in a 15-20% reduction in preventable hospitalisations among vulnerable populations over a three-year period. In the coming months, these preliminary findings will undergo rigorous validation using independent datasets to ensure robustness and applicability across different regional contexts.
This publication marks an important milestone for the BENEFITS project, showcasing how data-driven, multidimensional evaluation frameworks can help policymakers better understand and improve the societal impact of social services.