IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/chy/respap/90cherp.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Attributing a monetary value to patients’ time: A contingent valuation approach

Author

Listed:
  • Bernard van den Berg

    (Centre for Health Economics, University of York, UK)

  • Amiram Gafni

    (Centre for Health Economics and Policy Analysis and Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, McMaster University, Canada)

  • France Portrait

    (Department of Health Sciences, VU University Amsterdam, the Netherlands)

Abstract

It is hard to ignore the importance of patient time investment in the production of health since the influential paper by Grossman (1972). Patient time includes time to admission, travel time, waiting time, and treatment time and can be substantial. Time to admission is the time between the first referral and the moment that the treatment actually starts. Travel time is the time that a patient needs to travel between the place where the patient lives and the medical care centre where the patient is treated. Waiting time is the time that the patient waits at the medical care centre before treatment. Treatment time is the time spent getting active treatment for example by a doctor or a nurse. Patient time is, however, often ignored in economic analyses. This may lead to biased results and inappropriate policy recommendations, which may eventually influence patients’ health, wellbeing and welfare. How to value patient time is not straightforward. It is even less straightforward for patients who are not participating in the labour market. Although there is some emerging literature on the monetary valuation of patient time, an important challenge remains to develop an approach that can be used to monetarily value time of patients not participating in the labour market. We aim to contribute to the health economics literature by describing and empirically illustrating how to monetarily value patients’ time comprehensively, using the contingent valuation method. Comprehensively means including various types of patient time (time to admission, travel time, waiting time, and treatment time) as the previous literature focused mainly on valuing a particular type of patient time, for instance waiting time. This paper describes the development of the contingent valuation survey. The survey is added as an appendix to this paper. This paper also presents the first empirical results of applying our survey approach in a sample of patients in the Netherlands not participating in the labour market. These results show that the monetary value of waiting time was the highest (€30.10/£34.76 per hour) and travel and treatment time were equally valued (respectively €13.20/£11.43 and €13.32/£11.54 per hour).

Suggested Citation

  • Bernard van den Berg & Amiram Gafni & France Portrait, 2013. "Attributing a monetary value to patients’ time: A contingent valuation approach," Working Papers 090cherp, Centre for Health Economics, University of York.
    • Handle: RePEc:chy:respap:90cherp
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.york.ac.uk/media/che/documents/papers/researchpapers/CHERP90_monetary_value_patient_time_contingent_valuation.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2013
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Drummond, Michael F. & Sculpher, Mark J. & Torrance, George W. & O'Brien, Bernie J. & Stoddart, Greg L., 2005. "Methods for the Economic Evaluation of Health Care Programmes," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, edition 3, number 9780198529453.
    2. Karen Blumenschein & GlennC. Blomquist & Magnus Johannesson & Nancy Horn & Patricia Freeman, 2008. "Eliciting Willingness to Pay Without Bias: Evidence from a Field Experiment," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 118(525), pages 114-137, January.
    3. Daniel E. Jonas & Louise B. Russell & Jon Chou & Michael Pignone, 2010. "Willingness‐to‐pay to avoid the time spent and discomfort associated with screening colonoscopy," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(10), pages 1193-1211, October.
    4. Johannesson, Magnus & Johansson, Per-Olov & Kristrom, Bengt & Gerdtham, Ulf-G., 1993. "Willingness to pay for antihypertensive therapy -- further results," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(1), pages 95-108, April.
    5. Bernard van den Berg & Han Bleichrodt & Louis Eeckhoudt, 2005. "The economic value of informal care: a study of informal caregivers' and patients' willingness to pay and willingness to accept for informal care," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 14(4), pages 363-376, April.
    6. Johannesson, Magnus & Johansson, Per-Olov & Soderqvist, Tore, 1998. "Time spent on waiting lists for medical care: an insurance approach," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(5), pages 627-644, October.
    7. Paul Dolan & Jan Abel Olsen & Paul Menzel & Jeff Richardson, 2003. "An inquiry into the different perspectives that can be used when eliciting preferences in health," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 12(7), pages 545-551, July.
    8. Harberger, Arnold C, 1978. "On the Use of Distributional Weights in Social Cost-Benefit Analysis," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 86(2), pages 87-120, April.
    9. Bishai, David M. & Lang, Hui Chu, 2000. "The willingness to pay for wait reduction: the disutility of queues for cataract surgery in Canada, Denmark, and Spain," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 219-230, March.
    10. Cam Donaldson & Stephen Birch & Amiram Gafni, 2002. "The distribution problem in economic evaluation: income and the valuation of costs and consequences of health care programmes," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 11(1), pages 55-70, January.
    11. van der Star, Sanne M. & van den Berg, Bernard, 2011. "Individual responsibility and health-risk behaviour: A contingent valuation study from the ex ante societal perspective," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 101(3), pages 300-311, August.
    12. Olsen, Jan Abel & Donaldson, Cam & Pereira, Joao, 2004. "The insensitivity of 'willingness-to-pay' to the size of the good: New evidence for health care," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 25(4), pages 445-460, August.
    13. Smith, V. Kerry & Osborne, Laura L., 1996. "Do Contingent Valuation Estimates Pass a "Scope" Test? A Meta-analysis," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 287-301, November.
    14. Phelps, Charles E & Newhouse, Joseph P, 1974. "Coinsurance, the Price of Time, and the Demand for Medical Services," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 56(3), pages 334-342, August.
    15. Cauley, Stephen Day, 1987. "The Time Price of Medical Care," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 69(1), pages 59-66, February.
    16. Grossman, Michael, 1972. "On the Concept of Health Capital and the Demand for Health," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 80(2), pages 223-255, March-Apr.
    17. Blumenschein, Karen & Johannesson, Magnus & Yokoyama, Krista K. & Freeman, Patricia R., 2001. "Hypothetical versus real willingness to pay in the health care sector: results from a field experiment," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 441-457, May.
    18. B O'Brien & A Gafni, 1996. "When Do the "Dollars" Make Sense? Toward a Conceptual Framework for Contingent Valuation Studies in Health Care," Centre for Health Economics and Policy Analysis Working Paper Series 1996-22, Centre for Health Economics and Policy Analysis (CHEPA), McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada.
    19. Bernie O'Brien & Amiram Gafni, 1996. "When Do the "Dollars" Make Sense?," Medical Decision Making, , vol. 16(3), pages 288-299, August.
    20. David M. Cutler, 2002. "Equality, Efficiency, and Market Fundamentals: The Dynamics of International Medical-Care Reform," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 40(3), pages 881-906, September.
    21. A. J. Culyer & J. P. Newhouse (ed.), 2000. "Handbook of Health Economics," Handbook of Health Economics, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 1, number 1.
    22. L. M. Lamers & J. McDonnell & P. F. M. Stalmeier & P. F. M. Krabbe & J. J. V. Busschbach, 2006. "The Dutch tariff: results and arguments for an effective design for national EQ‐5D valuation studies," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 15(10), pages 1121-1132, October.
    23. Natalia N. Borisova & Allen C. Goodman, 2003. "Measuring the value of time for methadone maintenance clients: willingness to pay, willingness to accept, and the wage rate," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 12(4), pages 323-334, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. #HEJC papers for October 2013
      by academichealtheconomists in The Academic Health Economists' Blog on 2013-10-01 04:30:26

    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. van den Berg, Bernard & Gafni, Amiram & Portrait, France, 2017. "Attributing a monetary value to patients' time: A contingent valuation approach," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 182-190.
    2. Nathalie Havet & Magali Morelle & Alexis Penot & Raphaël Remonnay, 2012. "The information content of the WTP-WTA gap : An empirical analysis among severely ill patients," Working Papers halshs-00697762, HAL.
    3. Emmanouil Mentzakis & Mandy Ryan & Paul McNamee, 2014. "Modelling Heterogeneity and Uncertainty in Contingent Valuation: an Application to the Valuation of Informal Care," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 61(1), pages 1-25, February.
    4. Dror, David Mark & Radermacher, Ralf & Koren, Ruth, 2007. "Willingness to pay for health insurance among rural and poor persons: Field evidence from seven micro health insurance units in India," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(1), pages 12-27, June.
    5. Eamon O’Shea & Jennifer Stewart & Cam Donaldson & Phil Shackley, 2001. "Eliciting Preferences for Resource Allocation in Health Care," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 32(3), pages 217-238.
    6. Akbar Marvasti, 2006. "A Contingent Valuation of Customer Delay in Medical Services," Eastern Economic Journal, Eastern Economic Association, vol. 32(1), pages 31-45, Winter.
    7. Alan Diener & Bernie O'Brien & Amiram Gafni, 1998. "Health care contingent valuation studies: a review and classification of the literature," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 7(4), pages 313-326, June.
    8. repec:cup:judgdm:v:2:y:2007:i::p:96-106 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Birch, Stephen & Gafni, Amiram, 2003. "Economics and the evaluation of health care programmes: generalisability of methods and implications for generalisability of results," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 64(2), pages 207-219, May.
    10. Laura J. Damschroder & Peter A. Ubel & Jason Riis & Dylan M. Smith, 2007. "An alternative approach for eliciting willingness-to-pay: A randomized Internet trial," Judgment and Decision Making, Society for Judgment and Decision Making, vol. 2, pages 96-106, April.
    11. Óscar D. Lourenço & Pedro L. Ferreira, 2005. "Utilization of public health centres in Portugal: effect of time costs and other determinants. Finite mixture models applied to truncated samples," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 14(9), pages 939-953, September.
    12. Huw Dixon & Luigi Siciliani, 2009. "Waiting Time Targets in Healthcare Markets: How Long Are We Waiting?," Discussion Papers 09/05, Department of Economics, University of York.
    13. 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.
    14. van der Star, Sanne M. & van den Berg, Bernard, 2011. "Individual responsibility and health-risk behaviour: A contingent valuation study from the ex ante societal perspective," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 101(3), pages 300-311, August.
    15. Renske Hoefman & Job Exel & Werner Brouwer, 2013. "How to Include Informal Care in Economic Evaluations," PharmacoEconomics, Springer, vol. 31(12), pages 1105-1119, December.
    16. Glenn Blomquist & Karen Blumenschein & Magnus Johannesson, 2009. "Eliciting Willingness to Pay without Bias using Follow-up Certainty Statements: Comparisons between Probably/Definitely and a 10-point Certainty Scale," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 43(4), pages 473-502, August.
    17. Neil J. Buckley & Katherine Cuff & Jeremiah Hurley & Logan McLeod & Robert Nuscheler & David Cameron, 2012. "Willingness‐to‐pay for parallel private health insurance: evidence from a laboratory experiment," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 45(1), pages 137-166, February.
    18. Renske J. Hoefman & Job van Exel & John M. Rose & E. J. van de Wetering & Werner B. F. Brouwer, 2014. "A Discrete Choice Experiment to Obtain a Tariff for Valuing Informal Care Situations Measured with the CarerQol Instrument," Medical Decision Making, , vol. 34(1), pages 84-96, January.
    19. Oliver Fritz & Peter Mayerhofer & Reinhard Haller & Gerhard Streicher & Florian Bachner & Herwig Ostermann, 2013. "Die regionalwirtschaftlichen Effekte der österreichischen Krankenanstalten," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 46672, March.
    20. Daniel E. Jonas & Louise B. Russell & Jon Chou & Michael Pignone, 2010. "Willingness‐to‐pay to avoid the time spent and discomfort associated with screening colonoscopy," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(10), pages 1193-1211, October.
    21. Jacoline Bouvy & Just Weemers & Huub Schellekens & Marc Koopmanschap, 2011. "Willingness to Pay for Adverse Drug Event Regulatory Actions," PharmacoEconomics, Springer, vol. 29(11), pages 963-975, November.

    More about this item

    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:chy:respap:90cherp. 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: Gill Forder (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/chyoruk.html .

    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.