Value in health : the journal of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research
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To carry out a pilot study to demonstrate the feasibility of the contingent valuation (CV) approach to identify net benefits gained from spinal interventions; and to conduct a formal cost-benefit analysis (CBA) using a retrospective study design. The study design is a CBA feasibility study using a CV survey with ex post willingness-to-pay/willingness-to-accept (WTP/WTA) questions. The CBA study was carried out in the specialty of spinal surgery. ⋯ This study explored the feasibility of the CV approach for spinal interventions. The approach produced results suggesting positive net benefits with their associated levels of variability for discectomy and decompression, indicating that such surgery is cost-beneficial within a CBA framework, but this conclusion is not supported in the case of spinal fusion. Nevertheless, to improve reliability of the net-benefit estimates for these interventions, we recommend further studies comparing in particular ex ante and ex post WTP methods.
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Comparative Study
Factorial invariance of child self-report across age subgroups: a confirmatory factor analysis of ages 5 to 16 years utilizing the PedsQL 4.0 Generic Core Scales.
The utilization of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) measurement in an effort to improve pediatric health and well-being and determine the value of health care services has grown dramatically over the past decade. The paradigm shift toward patient-reported outcomes (PROs) in clinical trials has provided the opportunity to emphasize the value and essential need for pediatric patient self-report. In order for HRQOL/PRO comparisons to be meaningful for subgroup analyses, it is essential to demonstrate factorial invariance. This study examined age subgroup factorial invariance of child self-report for ages 5 to 16 years on more than 8,500 children utilizing the PedsQL 4.0 Generic Core Scales. ⋯ The findings support an equivalent five-factor structure across the age subgroups. Based on these data, it can be concluded that children across the age subgroups in this study interpreted items on the PedsQL 4.0 Generic Core Scales in a similar manner regardless of their age.
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In Thailand, policymakers have come under increasing pressure to use economic evaluation to inform health-care resource allocation decisions, especially after the introduction of the Universal Health Insurance Coverage (UC) scheme. This article presents qualitative findings from research that assessed a range of policymakers' perspectives on the acceptability of using economic evaluation for the development of health-care benefit packages in Thailand. The policy analysis examined their opinions about existing decision-making processes for including health interventions in the UC benefit package, their understanding of health economic evaluation, and their attitudes, acceptance, and values relating to the use of the method. ⋯ Policy actors thought that economic evaluation information was relevant for decision-making because of the increasing need for rationing and more transparent criteria for making UC coverage decisions. Nevertheless, they raised several difficulties with using economic evaluation that would pose barriers to its introduction, including distrust in the method, conflicting philosophical positions and priorities compared to that of "health maximization," organizational allegiances, existing decision-making procedures that would be hard to change, and concerns about political pressure and acceptability.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Are N-of-1 trials an economically viable option to improve access to selected high cost medications? The Australian experience.
To explore the economic viability of N-of-1 trials for improving access to selected high cost medications in Australia. ⋯ The N-of-1 strategy offers a realistic and viable option for increasing access to selected high cost medications where the medications are used for the symptomatic treatment of chronic disease, have rapid onset of action, and clinical response is unpredictable without a trial.
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Clinical Trial
Estimating the long-term cost-effectiveness of exenatide in the United States: an adjunctive treatment for type 2 diabetes mellitus.
This analysis provides an early estimate of the cost-effectiveness of adjunctive exenatide in treating type 2 diabetes mellitus in the United States. Data from pivotal phase III 30-week clinical trials and 52 weeks of their subsequent open-label extension studies (i.e., 82 weeks total) were used to project the effects of 30 years of adjunctive exenatide treatment. ⋯ Our analysis demonstrated that exenatide used for 20 or 30 years compared with no additional treatment beyond metformin and/or a sulfonylurea is cost-effective in the adjunctive treatment of type 2 diabetes with an ICER less than $50,000 per life-year gained. Sensitivity analyses suggest that, in addition to sustained reduction in HbA(1c), the added clinical effects of improved lipid values, systolic blood pressure, and reduced body mass index all positively contributed to the cost-effectiveness of exenatide.