title: Equity weights in the allocation of health care: the rank-dependent QALY model.
abstract: This paper introduces the rank-dependent quality-adjusted life-years (QALY) model, a new method to aggregate QALYs in economic evaluations of health care. The rank-dependent QALY model permits the formalization of influential concepts of equity in the allocation of health care, such as the fair innings approach, and it includes as special cases many of the social welfare functions that have been proposed in the literature. An important advantage of the rank-dependent QALY model is that it offers a straightforward procedure to estimate equity weights for QALYs. We characterize the rank-dependent QALY model and argue that its central condition has normative appeal.
authors.affiliation: iMTA/iBMG, Erasmus University, PO Box 1738, 3000 DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands. bleichrodt@bmg.eur.nl
authors.forename: Han
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bleichrodt
authors.forename: Enrico
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Diecidue
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Quiggin
mesh_terms: D036262:Empirical Research; D028663:Ethical Theory; D015276:Health Care Rationing / Q000191:economics* / Q000941:ethics*; D006801:Humans; D015233:Models, Statistical; D011050:Policy Making; D028662:Principle-Based Ethics; D019057:Quality-Adjusted Life Years; D040841:Resource Allocation / Q000191:economics / Q000941:ethics; D012935:Social Justice; D012946:Social Welfare; D035501:Uncertainty; D026712:Value of Life / Q000191:economics