Applied health economics and health policy
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Appl Health Econ Health Policy · Aug 2013
Comparative StudyA comparison of the EQ-5D-3L and ICECAP-O in an older post-acute patient population relative to the general population.
The measurement and valuation of quality of life forms a major component of economic evaluation in health care and is a major issue in health services research. However, differing approaches exist in the measurement and valuation of quality of life from a health economics perspective. While some instruments such as the EQ-5D-3L focus on health-related quality of life alone, others assess quality of life in broader terms, for example, the newly developed ICECAP-O. ⋯ The study findings illustrate the magnitude of the difference in patient and general population values according to the instrument utilized, and highlight the differences in both the theoretical underpinnings and valuation algorithms for the EQ-5D-3L and ICECAP-O instruments. Further empirical work is required in larger samples and alternative patient groups to investigate the generalizability of the findings presented here.
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Appl Health Econ Health Policy · Aug 2013
The trade-off between costs and quality of care in the treatment of psychosomatic patients with somatoform pain disorder.
The introduction of efficiency-oriented provider payment systems in inpatient mental healthcare in various Western countries may lead to the use of less healthcare resources in the treatment of patients. To avoid unintended effects on quality of care that may result from reductions in resource utilization, it is essential for decision and policy makers to know whether there is a trade-off between costs and quality of care. ⋯ For the majority of patients, we found a trade-off between costs and health outcome, thus, it seems advisable to carefully monitor outcome parameters when applying cost containment measures.