Unbiased Analysis of Today's Healthcare Issues
Poor health does not just affect the patient, but also the caregiver who provide physicial, emotional and financial support for these patients. To measure the impact of a disease on patient quality of life, there are a number of metrics one can choose from such as EQ-5D-5L, EQ-5D-VAS, SF-36 among others. Some of these surveys…
The Second Panel on Cost Effectiveness in Health and Medicine made a number of recommendations of how to improve cost effectiveness analysis (CEA). Yet, CEA is far from “solved”. In a recent article by Neumann et al. (2018), the Second Panel identifies seven CEA areas where additional research is needed. This include: CEA and perspective:…
Many health economists rely on the concept of a quality-adjusted life year (QALY) to measure the value of different treatments. When comparing one treatment to another, one can summarize the health benefits based on not only the among of life that was extended (i.e., extra years lived) but also what the quality of life is. …
Along with co-authors Michelle Skornicki, Michelle Brauer, Julie Villeneuve, Michael Lees, Nadine Hertel, John R. Penrod, and Jeroen Jansen, our paper “An exploratory case study of the impact of expanding cost-effectiveness analysis for second-line nivolumab for patients with squamous non-small cell lung cancer in Canada: Does it make a difference?” was recently published online in…
Defining which cancer treatments are the “best” is not as easy as you think. At first glance, treatments that produce the largest survival gains should be considered best. Most cancer treatments come with serious side effects. Thus, new treatments that better improve survival may also increase the risk of adverse events (although in some cases–like…
The Innovation and Value Initiative (IVI) – a collaboration of academics, patient advocacy organizations, payers, life sciences companies, providers, delivery systems, and other organizations dedicated to finding scientifically credible approaches to measuring value in health care – today released a report examining imbalances in cost-effectiveness analyses (CEAs) across pharmaceuticals, medical/surgical treatments, and mixed procedures. The report, Expanding Cost-Effectiveness…
Aaron Carroll argues ‘no’ and–in most but not all cases–I agree with him. Here is the evidence he cites: More health insurance does not reduce emergency department (ED) visits. States that expanded Medicaid eligibility with ACA funding saw an increase in ED visits relative to non-expansion states. In Oregon, individuals who won an eligibility ‘lottery’ to…
A paper by Rothman et al. (2017) explains what goes on at the Washington Health Technology Assessment Program’s (WHTAP), the first state-administered health technology assessment (HTA) program in the U.S.: Over the past 9 years, Washington State has been pursuing an innovative and generally effective program to use evidence-based medicine to determine state health care…
Value frameworks are all the rage of late. But are payers really using them? According to my colleague Jeremy Schafer, the answer is yes. From an article in Drug Topics: “Value assessment may become more important as the health-care market shifts to outcomes and value-based reimbursement models,” said Jeremy Schafer, PharmD, MBA, Senior Vice President…
A number of studies have claimed that increased health expenditures may result in no better, or even worse outcomes. For instance, a paper by Fisher et al. (2003) looking at patients with acute myocardial infarction, colorectal cancer, or hip fracture finds that “Quality of care in higher-spending regions was no better on most measures and…