Submission from David Parkin There’s a problem with the way that health economists and others describe the properties that a health state index should have. The main reason we want such an index is to calculate Quality Adjusted Life Years.… Read More »What does a health value of zero mean?
Last week a significant chunk of the UK public sector went on strike. It was over pensions. This isn’t the first of its kind, and it certainly won’t be the last. As the government tries to deal with an ageing… Read More »Health and retirement policy
Recently, I’ve witnessed an ever-increasing number of condition-specific utility measures being developed. Much work is being carried out by The University of Sheffield on measures such as the AQL-5D for asthma, and the EORTC-8D for cancer. I struggle to see their use.… Read More »Condition-specific utility measures?
I’m sure many of you are familiar with the process of seeking ethical approval for a project. In my opinion there is not enough of an explicit link between the potential value of a trial and its likelihood of receiving… Read More »Expected value of ethical approval?
I recently read an article with the tag-line;”With every case being so different, economics should not dominate intervention policy for premature babies’ survival”. Naturally I thought “this can’t be true” and felt the need to analyse this further. The article… Read More »Premature birth: A defence of economics
I was recently directed towards a new report on the EQ-5D, by the NICE Decision Support Unit at the University of Sheffield. As health economists we can all see the benefits of a measure like the EQ-5D, but it’s also… Read More »The EQ-5D: Keep calm and carry on
There has been a 71% reduction in the number of characters that you will have to enter to get to this blog. aheblog.com has arrived.
What’s the point in research if nobody is listening? Below is a 3-day time-line of events in the UK that demonstrate hypocrisy, ignorance and a disregard of empirical evidence within the UK Government. 07/03/2011: The Government demonstrates its commitment to translational… Read More »Falling on deaf ears: The government’s disregard for empirical evidence
This month the Equality Act 2010 was accepted by the Department of Health here in the UK, with no amendments. The NHS can no longer discriminate based on age (aside from a few reasonable exceptions). But can this new legislation… Read More »Equal care for the elderly: A swing and a miss?
The ‘well-being valuation method’ is a recently developed technique for valuing the effect, in monetary terms, of a health problem on an individual’s well-being. The method involves calculating the compensating variation necessary to maintain the same level of well-being after suffering from… Read More »The well-being valuation approach: Solution or convolution?