Improving valuation methods for the 15D instrument

This project aims at increasing the knowledge about the 15D instrument and its valuation method. We will propose solutions to identified methodological shortcomings related to 15D and aim to aid priority setting in the Norwegian healthcare sector.

About the project

Limited resources and increasing numbers of treatment options raise the need for priority setting in the health care sector. Economic evaluations are one approach to systematically quantify and compare the costs and benefits of a health intervention. In some forms of economic evaluation quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) are used to quantify the benefits of an intervention. QALYs are “life years weighted by their quality”¹. The 15D and its valuation method are used to generate value sets that are needed to calculate QALYs.

As the use of economic evaluation and the QALY in healthcare decision making in Norway increases, it is necessary to tackle methodological shortcomings in the descriptive systems and the valuation methods of HRQoL instruments like the 15D.

¹(Weinstein, Torrance, & McGuire, 2009)

Objectives

Elaborate the knowledge about the 15D descriptive system and its valuation method.
Estimate a Norwegian 15D value algorithm and compare it to other national 15D value algorithms.
Identify which difficulties respondents face when answering the 15D descriptive system.

Outcomes

Michel, Y A, Augestad L A, Rand-Hendriksen, K (2015). A Norwegian 15D value algorithm: Which aspects of health-related quality of life are most important to Norwegians?. Abstract accepted at the Nordic Health Economists’ Study Group Meeting (NHESG), Uppsala, Sweden.
Michel YA, Engel L, Augestad LA, Rand-Hendriksen K, Whitehurst DGT (2015). “When I saw walking, I just kind of took it as wheeling.” A qualitative exploration of how individuals with spinal cord injury perceive mobility-related items in generic health-related quality of life instruments. Abstract accepted at the conference of the International Society for Quality of Life Research (ISQOL),Vancouver, Canada.

Financing

The Research Council of Norway

Cooperation

Department of Public Health, Hjelt Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
Department of Psychology, Humboldt University Berlin, Germany