Using Multicriteria Approaches to Assess the Value of Health Care

Area of Science:

• Health economics
• Decision science
• Health services research

Background:

• Cost-utility analysis (CUA) models often omit crucial factors influencing healthcare decisions.
• CUA typically uses single perspectives, limiting its value for diverse stakeholders (patients, providers, payers, producers, planners - the 5Ps).

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore how multicriteria analysis (MCA) models can address the limitations of CUA.
• To demonstrate MCA's utility in incorporating multiple perspectives for healthcare decision-making.

Main Methods:

• Discussed the application of MCA for different stakeholder perspectives (5Ps).
• Illustrated MCA benefits using a hypothetical cancer treatment scenario with varied patient preferences and treatment attributes.
• Included a discussion on group decision-making using MCA.

Main Results:

• MCA allows each of the 5Ps to use the analysis in unique ways, accommodating different value measures and outcomes.
• No single-metric approach, like CUA, can satisfy all stakeholders' unique value assessments.
• MCA provides a framework for evaluating interventions from multiple viewpoints.

Conclusions:

• Methods for valuing health interventions should embrace MCA for increased transparency.
• MCA enables "flight simulator" evaluations of interventions before deployment.
• MCA can facilitate decision convergence among stakeholders and help avoid cognitive errors.