Excel VBA is over 30 years old. It’s still supported, but it’s not getting significant updates anymore. Yet, many of us, as health economists, use VBA weekly. So, why does Excel VBA continue to be our go-to tool for building health economics models?

Let me share my thoughts.

Excel is widely used across both academia and industry, and most of us are already pretty familiar with it, which makes it a natural starting point.

Plus, the agencies reviewing our health economics submissions tend to have more expertise in Excel VBA than in other tools. They also appreciate the auditability of these models.

Even though it’s old, it’s still good software for our needs. With VBA, we can build, test, and refine our Excel models. Many health economists start with basic Excel functions and then move on to VBA to automate and enhance their models.

And maybe we just don’t have another “Swiss pocket knife” alternative yet.

See the latest Excel VBA jobs for health economists.