Value-based care in allergy-immunology: Beyond the quality-adjusted life year

Background: Value-based health care in the field of allergy/immunology must be informed by multiple factors, including costs (direct and indirect), outcomes, and the patient experience. Objective: We review features that define value-based health care and discuss a perspective that considers cost-effective care beyond the quality-adjusted life year (QALY). Methods: A narrative review and synthesis of the literature was leveraged to advance an understanding of health-care delivery that considers shared decision-making, health-economic outcomes, and the patient experience. Results: The patient and family experience of health and wellness must be considered carefully when interpreting health-economic evaluations. Health-state utilities consider trade-offs for wellness under conditions of risk and are used to inform QALYs for a myriad of disease states. Cost-effectiveness of medical therapies relates to trade-offs that are considered for populations, but these metrics can be translated holistically to inform health-care decisions for patients if considered contextually. In the case of food allergy, omalizumab would likely not be cost-effective on an individual level (incremental cost-effectiveness ratio, $573,698/QALY), but for those individuals with a high utility impairment, or, if considered from the perspective of a family unit, may be a more attractive therapy from a health-economic point of view. Conclusion: The balance between health and disease is such that there is always more disease than can be treated at any given moment, and both money and time can only be spent once. Because choice is inevitable, health-economic analysis can help inform clinical care. Still, translating population-level cost-effectiveness to individuals is challenging and decisions must be tailored to each patient and context.