Separating Apples From Oranges In Research Prioritization

Main Category: Public Health
Article Date: 11 May 2009 - 5:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   view / write opinions   rate article

In research prioritization advanced scenario analyses are increasingly used to determine the value of additional research. However, such analyses presently conceal relevant information which is easily obtainable.

Outcomes of health care interventions are commonly expressed in terms of costs and health effects. The value of life years gained is transformed into a monetary equivalent. This enables the assessment of the expected return on investment of additional research. Unfortunately this single value does not reveal to which extent the return on investment is attributable to a monetary gain or to a gain in life years.

Researchers of the University Medical Center Utrecht have developed a method to retrieve this information which augments the set of decision making parameters. The study was co-authored by Mart Janssen, also from the Julius Center of Health Sciences and Primary Care.

Says Dr. Koffijberg, "As the outcome of health care interventions are generally expressed in terms of both costs and health effects, we wanted to express value of additional information in these terms as well. We did not anticipate that our extension would also provide insight into the likelihood of a policy change. This allows incorporation of the risk attitude of the policy maker into the decision-making process."

This will be discussed in Value in Health, the official journal of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and outcomes Research.

Value in Health (ISSN 1098-3015) publishes papers, concepts, and ideas that advance the field of pharmacoeconomics and outcomes research and help health care leaders to make decisions that are solidly evidence-based. The journal is published bi-monthly and has a regular readership of over 4,000 clinicians, decision-makers, and researchers worldwide.

ISPOR is a nonprofit, international organization that strives to translate pharmacoeconomics and outcomes research into practice to ensure that society allocates scarce health care resources wisely, fairly, and efficiently.

Source
ISPOR