title: Valuing outcomes in health care: a comparison of willingness to pay and quality-adjusted life-years.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Research Triangle Institute, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27709, USA.
authors.forename: M V
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Bala
authors.forename: L L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Wood
authors.forename: G A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Zarkin
authors.forename: E C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Norton
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gafni
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: O'Brien
mesh_terms: 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