Willingness to pay for new chemotherapy for advanced ovarian cancer.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate whether health care professionals had differing attitudes about cost and survival issues in regard to the treatment of advanced ovarian cancer.


METHODS
A questionnaire designed for the study was mailed to hospital doctors, hospital nurses, Crown Health Enterprise (CHE) managers and health authority managers who were working in the same geographical area. A total of 391 questionnaires were mailed and 186 were completed reflecting an overall response rate of 47%. Replies were received from 46% of the health authority managers, 61% of the CHE managers, 59% of the doctors and 27% of nurses.


RESULTS
Results indicated a threshold for how much individuals were willing to pay. Group differences were evident with the nurses and CHE managers willing to spend less than the other two groups. In addition, those with experience of cancer treatment were willing to spend less than those with no such experience.


CONCLUSIONS
There are differences in attitudes to costs and benefits of treatment between individuals working in different areas of health care. Health sector workers value treatments which extend life expectancy without necessarily being curative.
Morris
J
J
Institute of Health Studies, University of Plymouth, Pool, Cornwall, England. J.M.Morris@plymouth.ac.uk
Perez
D
D
D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000972:Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic / Q000191:economics* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000191:economics / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D016527:Drug Costs; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009520:New Zealand; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy*; D017239:Paclitaxel / Q000191:economics* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D016019:Survival Analysis
D000972:Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic; D017239:Paclitaxel