IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/eujhec/v21y2020i3d10.1007_s10198-019-01140-4.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The societal monetary value of a QALY associated with EQ-5D-3L health gains

Author

Listed:
  • Laura Vallejo-Torres

    (University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
    Fundación Canaria Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Canarias (FIISC)
    Health Services Research on Chronic Patients Network (REDISSEC))

  • Borja García-Lorenzo

    (Fundación Canaria Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Canarias (FIISC)
    University of Barcelona)

  • Oliver Rivero-Arias

    (Fundación Canaria Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Canarias (FIISC)
    Health Services Research on Chronic Patients Network (REDISSEC)
    University of Oxford)

  • José Luis Pinto-Prades

    (Univerity of Navarra)

Abstract

There is an extensive body of empirical research that focuses on the societal monetary value of a quality-adjusted life year (MVQALY). Many of these studies have found the estimates to be inversely associated with the size of the health gain, and thus not conforming to the linearity assumption imposed in the QALY model. In this study, we explore the extent to which the MVQALY varies when it is associated with different types and magnitudes of quality of life (QoL) improvements. To allow for a comprehensive assessment, we derive the MVQALY corresponding to the full spectrum of health gains defined by the EQ-5D-3L instrument. The analysis was based on a large and representative sample of the population in Spain. A discrete choice experiment and a time trade-off exercise were used to derive a value set for utilities, followed by a willingness to pay questionnaire. The data were jointly analysed using regression analyses and bootstrapping techniques. Our findings indicate that societal values for a QALY corresponding to different EQ-5D-3L health gains vary approximately between 10,000€ and 30,000€. MVQALY associated with larger improvements on QoL was found to be lower than that associated with moderate QoL gains. The potential sources of the observed non-constant MVQALY are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Laura Vallejo-Torres & Borja García-Lorenzo & Oliver Rivero-Arias & José Luis Pinto-Prades, 2020. "The societal monetary value of a QALY associated with EQ-5D-3L health gains," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 21(3), pages 363-379, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:eujhec:v:21:y:2020:i:3:d:10.1007_s10198-019-01140-4
    DOI: 10.1007/s10198-019-01140-4
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10198-019-01140-4
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10198-019-01140-4?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pinto-Prades, Jose Luis & Loomes, Graham & Brey, Raul, 2009. "Trying to estimate a monetary value for the QALY," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 553-562, May.
    2. Dorte Gyrd‐Hansen, 2003. "Willingness to pay for a QALY," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 12(12), pages 1049-1060, December.
    3. Erik Nord & Anja Undrum Enge & Veronica Gundersen, 2010. "QALYs: is the value of treatment proportional to the size of the health gain?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(5), pages 596-607, May.
    4. Kevin Haninger & James K. Hammitt, 2011. "Diminishing Willingness to Pay per Quality‐Adjusted Life Year: Valuing Acute Foodborne Illness," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(9), pages 1363-1380, September.
    5. Bansback, Nick & Brazier, John & Tsuchiya, Aki & Anis, Aslam, 2012. "Using a discrete choice experiment to estimate health state utility values," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 306-318.
    6. Hammitt, James & Haninger, Kevin, 2011. "Valuing Morbidity Risk: Willingness to Pay per Quality-Adjusted Life Year," LERNA Working Papers 11.09.343, LERNA, University of Toulouse.
    7. Dorte Gyrd‐Hansen & Trine Kjær, 2012. "Disentangling WTP per QALY data: different analytical approaches, different answers," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 21(3), pages 222-237, March.
    8. Erik Nord, 2018. "Beyond QALYs: Multi-criteria based estimation of maximum willingness to pay for health technologies," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 19(2), pages 267-275, March.
    9. Hammitt, James K & Graham, John D, 1999. "Willingness to Pay for Health Protection: Inadequate Sensitivity to Probability?," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 18(1), pages 33-62, April.
    10. Khachapon Nimdet & Nathorn Chaiyakunapruk & Kittaya Vichansavakul & Surachat Ngorsuraches, 2015. "A Systematic Review of Studies Eliciting Willingness-to-Pay per Quality-Adjusted Life Year: Does It Justify CE Threshold?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(4), pages 1-16, April.
    11. Richard Norman & Brendan Mulhern & Rosalie Viney, 2016. "The Impact of Different DCE-Based Approaches When Anchoring Utility Scores," PharmacoEconomics, Springer, vol. 34(8), pages 805-814, August.
    12. James K. Hammitt & Kevin Haninger, 2007. "Willingness to Pay for Food Safety: Sensitivity to Duration and Severity of Illness," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 89(5), pages 1170-1175.
    13. Baker, Rachel & Chilton, Sue & Donaldson, Cam & Jones-Lee, Michael & Lancsar, Emily & Mason, Helen & Metcalf, Hugh & Pennington, Mark & Wildman, John, 2011. "Searchers vs surveyors in estimating the monetary value of a QALY: resolving a nasty dilemma for NICE," Health Economics, Policy and Law, Cambridge University Press, vol. 6(4), pages 435-447, October.
    14. Bobinac, Ana & van Exel, N. Job A. & Rutten, Frans F.H. & Brouwer, Werner B.F., 2012. "GET MORE, PAY MORE? An elaborate test of construct validity of willingness to pay per QALY estimates obtained through contingent valuation," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 158-168.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Christian R. C. Kouakou & Thomas G. Poder, 2022. "Willingness to pay for a quality-adjusted life year: a systematic review with meta-regression," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 23(2), pages 277-299, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Christian R. C. Kouakou & Thomas G. Poder, 2022. "Willingness to pay for a quality-adjusted life year: a systematic review with meta-regression," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 23(2), pages 277-299, March.
    2. Linda Ryen & Mikael Svensson, 2015. "The Willingness to Pay for a Quality Adjusted Life Year: A Review of the Empirical Literature," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(10), pages 1289-1301, October.
    3. Ryen, Linda & Svensson, Mikael, 2014. "The Willingness to Pay for a QALY: a Review of the Empirical Literature," Karlstad University Working Papers in Economics 12, Karlstad University, Department of Economics.
    4. Khachapon Nimdet & Nathorn Chaiyakunapruk & Kittaya Vichansavakul & Surachat Ngorsuraches, 2015. "A Systematic Review of Studies Eliciting Willingness-to-Pay per Quality-Adjusted Life Year: Does It Justify CE Threshold?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(4), pages 1-16, April.
    5. Henrik Andersson & James K. Hammitt & Kristian Sundström, 2015. "Willingness to Pay and QALYs: What Can We Learn about Valuing Foodborne Risk?," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 66(3), pages 727-752, September.
    6. S. Olofsson & U.-G. Gerdtham & L. Hultkrantz & U. Persson, 2019. "Value of a QALY and VSI estimated with the chained approach," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 20(7), pages 1063-1077, September.
    7. Robinson, Angela & Gyrd-Hansen, Dorte & Bacon, Philomena & Baker, Rachel & Pennington, Mark & Donaldson, Cam, 2013. "Estimating a WTP-based value of a QALY: The ‘chained’ approach," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 92-104.
    8. Herrera-Araujo, Daniel & Hammitt, James K. & Rheinberger, Christoph M., 2020. "Theoretical bounds on the value of improved health," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    9. Afentoula G. Mavrodi & Vassilis H. Aletras, 2019. "Preliminary Results of a Healthcare Contingent Valuation Study in Greece," International Journal of Finance, Insurance and Risk Management, International Journal of Finance, Insurance and Risk Management, vol. 9(3-4), pages 3-16.
    10. Mark Pennington & Rachel Baker & Werner Brouwer & Helen Mason & Dorte Gyrd Hansen & Angela Robinson & Cam Donaldson & the EuroVaQ Team, 2015. "Comparing WTP Values of Different Types of QALY Gain Elicited from the General Public," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(3), pages 280-293, March.
    11. Kevin Haninger & James K. Hammitt, 2011. "Diminishing Willingness to Pay per Quality‐Adjusted Life Year: Valuing Acute Foodborne Illness," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(9), pages 1363-1380, September.
    12. Arthur E. Attema & Marieke Krol & Job Exel & Werner B. F. Brouwer, 2018. "New findings from the time trade-off for income approach to elicit willingness to pay for a quality adjusted life year," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 19(2), pages 277-291, March.
    13. Olofsson, Sara & Gerdtham , Ulf-G & Hultkrantz , Lars & Persson , Ulf, 2016. "Chained Approach vs Contingent Valuation for Estimating the Value of Risk Reduction," Working Papers 2016:34, Lund University, Department of Economics.
    14. Andersson, Henrik & Hole, Arne Risa & Svensson, Mikael, 2016. "Valuation of small and multiple health risks: A critical analysis of SP data applied to food and water safety," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 41-53.
    15. Björn Sund & Mikael Svensson, 2018. "Estimating a constant WTP for a QALY—a mission impossible?," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 19(6), pages 871-880, July.
    16. S. Olofsson & U.-G. Gerdtham & L. Hultkrantz & U. Persson, 2018. "Measuring the end-of-life premium in cancer using individual ex ante willingness to pay," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 19(6), pages 807-820, July.
    17. Hammitt, James K. & Haninger, Kevin, 2017. "Valuing nonfatal health risk as a function of illness severity and duration: Benefit transfer using QALYs," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 17-38.
    18. Hammitt, James & Haninger, Kevin, 2011. "Valuing Morbidity Risk: Willingness to Pay per Quality-Adjusted Life Year," LERNA Working Papers 11.09.343, LERNA, University of Toulouse.
    19. Tracy Lieu & G. Ray & Ismael Ortega-Sanchez & Ken Kleinman & Donna Rusinak, 2009. "Willingness to Pay for a QALY Based on Community Member and Patient Preferences for Temporary Health States Associated with Herpes Zoster," PharmacoEconomics, Springer, vol. 27(12), pages 1005-1016, December.
    20. Bobinac, Ana & van Exel, N. Job A. & Rutten, Frans F.H. & Brouwer, Werner B.F., 2012. "GET MORE, PAY MORE? An elaborate test of construct validity of willingness to pay per QALY estimates obtained through contingent valuation," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 158-168.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Willingness to pay; Quality-adjusted life year; Social perspective; EQ-5D;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D61 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Allocative Efficiency; Cost-Benefit Analysis
    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:eujhec:v:21:y:2020:i:3:d:10.1007_s10198-019-01140-4. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.