Cost-effectiveness of ocular interventions

The cost-effectiveness of ophthalmic interventions has become increasingly important as the US health care budget continues to grow. During the past two decades, a methodology rooted in utility analysis has provided a way to objectively assess the value of an intervention for a specific disease. Specifically within the field of ophthalmology, there is a growing body of literature on utility analysis using patient preference-based outcomes for ophthalmic disease. This has led the way to combining costs with utility values to derive a cost-utility analysis, or cost-effectiveness, for a given ophthalmic procedure. This article outlines this methodology, provides a reference-case example for initial cataract surgery, and describes a comparative study of the value associated with interventions within the field of ophthalmology and across other medical specialties.