A flexible formula for incorporating distributive concerns into cost-effectiveness analyses: Priority weights.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Cost effectiveness analyses (CEAs) are widely used to evaluate the opportunity cost of health care investments. However, few functions that take equity concerns into account are available for such CEA methods, and these concerns are therefore at risk of being disregarded. Among the functions that have been developed, most focus on the distribution of health gains, as opposed to the distribution of lifetime health. This is despite the fact that there are good reasons to give higher priority to individuals and groups with a low quality adjusted life expectancy from birth (QALE). Also, an even distribution of health gains may imply an uneven distribution of lifetime health.

Methods

We develop a systematic and explicit approach that allows for the inclusion of lifetim

SUBMITTER: Haaland OA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6786599 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature