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Alastair Canaway’s journal round-up for 5th June 2017

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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.

Redistribution and redesign in health care: an ebbing tide in England versus growing concerns in the United States. Health Economics [PubMed] Published 4th May 2017

Health Economics included an editorial that will be of interest to a wider readership. It focusses on the similarities and differences between the US and the UK’s health care systems, particularly in terms of (re)design, redistribution, and the challenges facing each. The UK system is characterised by a preference for collectivism in funding and access, and in the US, a pluralism of funding. In both countries, groups seek to reverse their existing approach (the grass is always greener). The editorial outlines recent changes in healthcare design, notably, the impact of the affordable care act (ACA). The main focus of the editorial is twofold: i) a discussion of the efforts in England to limit public spending whilst increasing hospital sector efficiency, ii) discussion of the US’s attempt to reduce the growth in the role of government in financing and delivering healthcare. In respect to the UK, the diagnosis is worrying yet unsurprising: chronic underfunding combined with a plethora of unevidenced reform proposals has left the NHS on a knife-edge; the prognosis is that it is uncertain whether the NHS will survive the next few years. In the US, the picture is more complex and the paper discussed possible repeal components of the ACA. A key point of the discussion relates to the assumption that US healthcare is much more expensive than any OECD country due to American’s using too much medical care. In fact as the authors note, the evidence points to the contrary, and the high expenditure is due to a myriad of factors including high wages, high drug prices, and a system which requires many more lawyers, administrators and consultants. The paper discusses various nuances with both systems in the current political context and is well worth reading for a quick overview of some the key issues facing both countries.

Statistical alchemy: conceptual validity and mapping to generate health state utility values. Pharmacoeconomics – Open Published 15th May 2017

With a passing interest in mapping and counting myself as a bit of a mapping skeptic, this paper discussing mapping in terms of ‘statistical alchemy’ obviously caught my eye. As most will know, mapping is a frequently used technique to obtain utility estimates by predicting utility values from data collected using other measures. The focus of the paper is ‘conceptual validity’: ‘the degree to which the content of two different instruments reflect one another when used for mapping’. There were three aims i) explain the idea of conceptual validity in relation to mapping, ii) consider the implications of poor conceptual validity when mapping for decision making in the context of resource allocation, and iii) provide suggestions to improve conceptual validity. The paper successfully achieves the first goal with an exposition of the (many) issues with mapping in relation to conceptual validity. The paper highlights that poor conceptual validity will result in systematic biases in the preferences for health when mapped estimates are used. This is aptly demonstrated through an example using a multiple sclerosis measure, and the EQ-5D. A number of ways for improving the conceptual validity are also presented, these include: i) response mapping, ii) assessment of ‘conceptual decision validity’ (which draws upon face, construct and criterion validity) to determine whether there is a prima facie case that a mapping function may lead to a valid decision, and iii) the need to examine ‘what is lost’ should mapping be used. I found it to be a thoughtful paper, and echoed some of my concerns with existing mapping functions. For those interested in conducting a mapping exercise this is an essential read as an introduction to some of the pitfalls you will encounter.

Is there additional value attached to health gains at the end of life? A revisit. Health Economics Published 1st June 2017

Following NICE’s (2009) guidance for the acceptability of higher cost-per-QALY thresholds for life extending treatments, the past eight years has seen an increase in research examining whether the general public actually have an appetite for this. That is, do the general public have a preference for an end of life premium? Many studies have sought to answer this, with mixed results. All previous attempts however, have tackled this issue from an ex-post perspective: respondents are asked to choose between providing treatment after the diagnosis when they face a shorter life expectancy without treatment. The issue highlighted in this paper is that by presenting life expectancy as certain and salient (e.g. 2 years, or 10 years), it may be interpreted as a life sentence regardless of length. This paper goes down an alternative route by adopting an ex-ante insurance approach. Additionally a new comparator is used, end of life treatment is compared with a preventative treatment that offers life extension with the same expected health gain. It also explores whether preferences depend on recipient age. The paper found that preventative treatments were prioritised over end of life treatments, and thus a dearth of justification for the end of life premium exists. This is another addition to the mixed literature regarding preferences for end of life treatments. The paper does have its limitations which it readily admits. It is however another useful addition this tricky research area.

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Alastair Canaway’s journal round-up for 20th March 2017

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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.

The use of quality-adjusted life years in cost-effectiveness analyses in palliative care: mapping the debate through an integrative review. Palliative Medicine [PubMed] Published 13th February 2017

February saw a health economics special within the journal Palliative Medicine – the editorials are very much worth a read to get a quick idea of how health economics has (and hasn’t) developed within the end of life care context. One of the most commonly encountered debates when discussing end of life care within health economics circles relates to the use of QALYs, and whether they’re appropriate. This paper aimed to map out the pros and cons of using the QALY framework to inform health economic decisions in the palliative care context. Being a review, there were no ground-breaking findings, more a refresher on what the issues are with the QALY at end of life: i) restrictions in life years gained, ii) conceptualisation of quality of life and its measurement, and iii) valuation and additivity of time. The review acknowledges the criticisms of the QALY but concludes that it is still of use for informing decision making. A key finding, and one which should be common sense, is that the EQ-5D should not be relied on as the sole measure within this context: the dimensions important to those at end of life are not adequately captured by the EQ-5D, and other measures should be considered. A limitation for me was that the review did not include Round’s (2016) book Care at the End of Life: An Economic Perspective (disclaimer: I’m a co-author on a chapter), which has significant overlap and builds on a number of the issues relevant to the paper. That aside, this is a useful paper for those new to the pitfalls of economic evaluation at the end of life and provides an excellent summary of many of the key issues.

The causal effect of retirement on mortality: evidence from targeted incentives to retire early. Health Economics [PubMed] [RePEc] Published 23rd February 2017

It’s been said that those who retire earlier die earlier, and a quick google search suggests there are many statistics supporting this. However, I’m unsure how robust the causality is in such studies. For example, the sick may choose to leave the workforce early. Previous academic literature had been inconclusive regarding the effects, and in which direction they occurred. This paper sought to elucidate this by taking advantage of pension reforms within the Netherlands which meant certain cohorts of Dutch civil servants could qualify for early retirement at a younger age. This change led to a steep increase in retirement and provided an opportunity to examine causal impacts by instrumenting retirement with the early retirement window. Administrative data from the entire population was used to examine the probability of dying resulting from earlier retirement. Contrary to preconceptions, the probability of men dying within five years dropped by 2.6% in those who took early retirement: a large and significant impact. The biggest impact was found within the first year of retirement. An explanation for this is that the reduction of stress and lifestyle change upon retiring may postpone death for the civil servants which were in poor health. The paper is an excellent example of harnessing a natural experiment for research purposes. It provides a valuable contribution to the evidence base whilst also being reassuring for those of us who plan to retire in the next few years (lottery win pending).

Mapping to estimate health-state utility from non–preference-based outcome measures: an ISPOR Good Practices for Outcomes Research Task Force report. Value in Health [PubMed] Published 16th February 2017

Finally, I just wanted to signpost this new good practice guide. If you ever attend HESG, ISPOR, or IHEA, you’ll nearly always encounter a paper on mapping (cross-walking). Given the ethical issues surrounding research waste and the increasing pressure to publish, mapping provides an excellent opportunity to maximise the value of your data. Of course, mapping also serves a purpose for the health economics community: it facilitates the estimation of QALYs in studies where no preference based measure exists. There are many iffy mapping functions out there so it’s good to see ISPOR have taken action by producing a report on best practice for mapping. As with most ISPOR guidelines the paper covers all the main areas you’d expect and guides you through the key considerations to undertaking a mapping exercise, this includes: pre-modelling considerations, data requirements, selection of statistical models, selection of covariates, reporting of results, and validation. Additionally there is also a short section for those who are keen to use a mapping function to generate QALYs but are unsure which to pick. As with any set of guidelines, it’s not exactly a thriller, it is however extremely useful for anyone seeking to conduct mapping.

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Alastair Canaway’s journal round-up for 20th February 2017

captaincanaway Leave a comment

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.

The estimation and inclusion of presenteeism costs in applied economic evaluation: a systematic review. Value in Health Published 30th January 2017

Presenteeism is one of those issues that you hear about from time to time, but rarely see addressed within economic evaluations. For those who haven’t come across it before, presenteeism refers to being at work, but not working at full capacity, for example, due to your health limiting your ability to work. The literature suggests that given presenteeism can have large associated costs which could significantly impact economic evaluations, it should be considered. These impacts are rarely captured in practice. This paper sought to identify studies where presenteeism costs were included, examined how valuation was approached and the degree of impact of including presenteeism on costs. The review included cost of illness studies as well as economic evaluations, just 28 papers had attempted to capture the costs of presenteeism, these were in a wide variety of disease areas. A range of methods was used, across all studies, presenteeism costs accounted for 52% (range from 19%-85%) of the total costs relating to the intervention and disease. This is a vast proportion and significantly outweighed absenteeism costs. Presenteeism is clearly a significant issue, yet widely ignored within economic evaluation. This in part may be due to the health and social care perspective advised within the NICE reference case and compounded by the lack of guidance in how to measure and value productivity costs. Should an economic evaluation pursue a societal perspective, the findings suggest that capturing and valuing presenteeism costs should be a priority.

Priority to end of life treatments? Views of the public in the Netherlands. Value in Health Published 5th January 2017

Everybody dies, and thus, end of life care is probably something that we should all have at least a passing interest in. The end of life context is an incredibly tricky research area with methodological pitfalls at every turn. End of life care is often seen as ‘different’ to other care, and this is reflected in NICE having supplementary guidance for the appraisal of end of life interventions. Similarly, in the Netherlands, treatments that do not meet typical cost per QALY thresholds may be provided should public support be sufficient. There, however, is a dearth of such evidence, and this paper sought to elucidate this issue using the novel Q methodology. Three primary viewpoints emerged: 1) Access to healthcare as a human right – all have equal rights regardless of setting, that is, nobody is more important. Viewpoint one appeared to reject the notion of scarce resources when it comes to health: ‘you can’t put a price on life’. 2) The second group focussed on providing the ‘right’ care for those with terminal illness and emphasised that quality of life should be respected and unnecessary care at end of life should be avoided. This second group did not place great importance on cost-effectiveness but did acknowledge that costly treatments at end of life might not be the best use of money. 3) Finally, the third group felt there should be a focus on care which is effective and efficient, that is, those treatments which generate the most health should be prioritised. There was a consensus across all three groups that the ultimate goal of the health system is to generate the greatest overall health benefit for the population. This rejects the notion that priority should be given to those at end of life and the study concludes that across the three groups there was minimal support for the possibility of the terminally ill being treated with priority.

Methodological issues surrounding the use of baseline health-related quality of life data to inform trial-based economic evaluations of interventions within emergency and critical care settings: a systematic literature review. PharmacoEconomics [PubMed] Published 6th January 2017

Catchy title. Conducting research within emergency and critical settings presents a number of unique challenges. For the health economist seeking to conduct a trial based economic evaluation, one such issue relates to the calculation of QALYs. To calculate QALYs within a trial, baseline and follow-up data are required. For obvious reasons – severe and acute injuries/illness, unplanned admission – collecting baseline data on those entering emergency and critical care is problematic. Even when patients are conscious, there are ethical issues surrounding collecting baseline data in this setting, the example used relates to somebody being conscious after cardiac arrest, is it appropriate to be getting them to complete HRQL questionnaires? Probably not. Various methods have been used to circumnavigate this issue; this paper sought to systematically review the methods that have been used and provide guidance for future studies. Just 19 studies made it through screening, thus highlighting the difficulty of research in this context. Just one study prospectively collected baseline HRQL data, and this was restricted to patients in a non-life threatening state. Four different strategies were adopted in the remaining papers. Eight studies adopted a fixed health utility for all participants at baseline, four used only the available data, that is, from the first time point where HRQL was measured. One asked patients to retrospectively recall their baseline state, whilst one other used Delphi methods to derive EQ-5D states from experts. The paper examines the implications and limitations of adopting each of these strategies. The key finding seems to relate to whether or not the trial arms are balanced with respect to HRQL at baseline. This obviously isn’t observed, the authors suggest trial covariates should instead be used to explore this, and adjustments made where applicable. If, and that’s a big if, trial arms are balanced, then all of the four methods suggested should give similar answers. It seems the key here is the randomisation, however, even the best randomisation techniques do not always lead to balanced arms and there is no guarantee of baseline balance. The authors conclude trials should aim to make an initial assessment of HRQL at the earliest opportunity and that further research is required to thoroughly examine how the different approaches will impact cost-effectiveness results.

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