Valuing outcomes in health care: a comparison of willingness to pay and quality-adjusted life-years.
Quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) and willingness to pay (WTP) are two preference-based measures of health-related outcomes. In this article, we compare these two measures in eliciting individuals' preferences for health outcomes associated with shingles. To collect the necessary preference data, we administered computer-interactive interviews to a sample of 65- to 70-year-olds. We found no significant correlation between QALYs and WTP across individuals. We discuss our findings and argue that our results raise questions about whether QALYs and WTP are equivalent preference-based measures of health outcomes.
Bala
M V
MV
Research Triangle Institute, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27709, USA.
Wood
L L
LL
Zarkin
G A
GA
Norton
E C
EC
Gafni
A
A
O'Brien
B
B
D000368:Aged; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003201:Computers; D017281:Cost of Illness; D016527:Drug Costs; D005260:Female; D005431:Florida; D006562:Herpes Zoster / Q000191:economics / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care / Q000379:methods*; D010146:Pain / Q000191:economics; D059408:Pain Management; D019057:Quality-Adjusted Life Years; D016896:Treatment Outcome