Every Monday our authors provide a round-up of some of the most recently published peer reviewed articles from the field. We don’t cover everything, or even what’s most important – just a few papers that have interested the author. Visit our Resources page for links to more journals or follow the HealthEconBot. If you’d like to write one of our weekly journal round-ups, get in touch.
A qualitative investigation of the health economic impacts of bariatric surgery for obesity and implications for improved practice in health economics. Health Economics [PubMed] Published 1st June 2018
Few would question the ‘economic’ nature of the challenge of obesity. Bariatric surgery is widely recommended for severe cases but, in many countries, the supply is not sufficient to satisfy the demand. In this context, this study explores the value of qualitative research in informing economic evaluation. The authors assert that previous economic evaluations have adopted a relatively narrow focus and thus might underestimate the expected value of bariatric surgery. But rather than going and finding data on what they think might be additional dimensions of value, the authors ask patients. Emotional capital, ‘societal’ (i.e. non-health) impacts, and externalities are identified as theories for the types of value that might be derived from bariatric surgery. These theories were used to guide the development of questions and prompts that were used in a series of 10 semi-structured focus groups. Thematic analysis identified the importance of emotional costs and benefits as part of the ‘socioemotional personal journey’ associated with bariatric surgery. Out-of-pocket costs were also identified as being important, with self-funding being a challenge for some respondents. The information seems useful in a variety of ways. It helps us understand the value of bariatric surgery and how individuals make decisions in this context. This information could be used to determine the structure of economic evaluations or the data that are collected and used. The authors suggest that an EQ-5D bolt-on should be developed for ’emotional capital’ but, given that this ‘theory’ was predefined by the authors and does not arise from the qualitative research as being an important dimension of value alongside the existing EQ-5D dimensions, that’s a stretch.
Developing accessible, pictorial versions of health-related quality-of-life instruments suitable for economic evaluation: a report of preliminary studies conducted in Canada and the United Kingdom. PharmacoEconomics – Open [PubMed] Published 25th May 2018
I’ve been telling people about this study for ages (apologies, authors, if that isn’t something you wanted to read!). In my experience, the need for more (cognitively / communicatively) accessible outcome measures is widely recognised by health researchers working in contexts where this is relevant, such as stroke. If people can’t read or understand the text-based descriptors that make up (for example) the EQ-5D, then we need some alternative format. You could develop an entirely new measure. Or, as the work described in this paper set out to do, you could modify existing measures. There are three descriptive systems described in this study: i) a pictorial EQ-5D-3L by the Canadian team, ii) a pictorial EQ-5D-3L by the UK team, and iii) a pictorial EQ-5D-5L by the UK team. Each uses images to represent the different levels of the different dimensions. For example, the mobility dimension might show somebody walking around unaided, walking with aids, or in bed. I’m not going to try and describe what they all look like, so I’ll just encourage you to take a look at the Supplementary Material (click here to download it). All are described as ‘pilot’ instruments and shouldn’t be picked up and used at this stage. Different approaches were used in the development of the measures, and there are differences between the measures in terms of the images selected and the ways in which they’re presented. But each process referred to conventions in aphasia research, used input from clinicians, and consulted people with aphasia and/or their carers. The authors set out several remaining questions and avenues for future research. The most interesting possibility to most readers will be the notion that we could have a ‘generic’ pictorial format for the EQ-5D, which isn’t aphasia-specific. This will require continued development of the pictorial descriptive systems, and ultimately their validation.
QALYs in 2018—advantages and concerns. JAMA [PubMed] Published 24th May 2018
It’s difficult not to feel sorry for the authors of this article – and indeed all US-based purveyors of economic evaluation in health care. With respect to social judgments about the value of health technologies, the US’s proverbial head remains well and truly buried in the sand. This article serves as a primer and an enticement for the use of QALYs. The ‘concerns’ cited relate almost exclusively to decision rules applied to QALYs, rather than the underlying principles of QALYs, presumably because the authors didn’t feel they could ignore the points made by QALY opponents (even if those arguments are vacuous). What it boils down to is this: trade-offs are necessary, and QALYs can be used to promote value in those trade-offs, so unless you offer some meaningful alternative then QALYs are here to stay. Thankfully, the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) has recently added some clout to the undeniable good sense of QALYs, so the future is looking a little brighter. Suck it up, America!
The impact of hospital costing methods on cost-effectiveness analysis: a case study. PharmacoEconomics [PubMed] Published 22nd May 2018
Plugging different cost estimates into your cost-effectiveness model could alter the headline results of your evaluation. That might seems obvious, but there are a variety of ways in which the selection of unit costs might be somewhat arbitrary or taken for granted. This study considers three alternative sources of information for hospital-based unit costs for hip fractures in England: (a) spell-level tariffs, (b) finished consultant episode (FCE) reference costs, and (c) spell-level reference costs. Source (b) provides, in theory, a more granular version of (a), describing individual episodes within a person’s hospital stay. Reference costs are estimated on the basis of hospital activity, while tariffs are prices estimated on the basis of historic reference costs. The authors use a previously reported cohort state transition model to evaluate different models of care for hip fracture and explore how the use of the different cost figures affects their results. FCE-level reference costs produced the highest total first-year hospital care costs (£14,440), and spell-level tariffs the lowest (£10,749). The more FCEs within a spell, the greater the discrepancy. This difference in costs affected ICERs, such that the net-benefit-optimising decision would change. The study makes an important point – that selection of unit costs matters. But it isn’t clear why the difference exists. It could just be due to a lack of precision in reference costs in this context (rather than a lack of accuracy, per se), or it could be that reference costs misestimate the true cost of care across the board. Without clear guidance on how to select the most appropriate source of unit costs, these different costing methodologies represent another source of uncertainty in modelling, which analysts should consider and explore.
Credits
