Use of expert knowledge elicitation to estimate parameters in health economic decision models.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and methods of expert knowledge elicitation (EKE) for specifying input parameters in health economic decision models (HEDM).

Methods: We created two samples using the National Health System Economic Evaluations Database: (1) 100 randomly selected HEDM studies to determine prevalence of EKE and (2) sixty studies using a formal EKE process to determine methods used.

Results: Fifty-seven (57 percent) of the random sample included at least one EKE-derived parameter.

How to substantially increase recruitment in cancer trials in New Zealand.

Recruitment rates into cancer treatment trials are generally very low, both in New Zealand and internationally. This viewpoint article suggests that recruitment rates could be substantially increased by considering all patients newly diagnosed with cancer to be automatically eligible for randomisation if experimental treatments were available under study protocols for patients with their type of cancer. Patients randomised to be offered the experimental treatment would be approached for consent to receive it, whereas patients randomised not to be offered this treatment would continue to receive standard treatment (thus serving as the control group) and not be approached for consent.

Prioritizing risk factors to identify preventive interventions for economic assessment.

Objective: To explore a risk factor approach for identifying preventive interventions that require more in-depth economic assessment, including cost-effectiveness analyses.

Methods: A three-step approach was employed to: (i) identify the risk factors that contribute most substantially to disability-adjusted life years (DALYs); (ii) re-rank these risk factors based on the availability of effective preventive interventions warranting further cost-effectiveness analysis (and in some instances on evidence from existing cost-effectiveness analyses); and (iii) re-rank these risk factors in accordance with their relative contribution to health inequalities. Health inequalities between the Māori and non-Māori populations in New Zealand were used by way of illustration.

Developing priority criteria for hip and knee replacement: results from the Western Canada Waiting List Project.

Introduction: The Western Canada Waiting List Project (WCWL), a federally funded partnership of 19 organizations, was created to develop tools for managing waiting lists. The WCWL panel on hip and knee replacement surgery was 1 of 5 panels constituted under this project.

Methods: The panel developed and tested a collection of standardized clinical criteria for setting priorities among patients awaiting hip and knee replacement.

Setting priorities on waiting lists: point-count systems as linear models.

The Western Canada Waiting List Project (WCWL) is a federally funded initiative designed to develop tools for managing waiting lists. The principal tools developed by WCWL are point-count measures that assess the severity of patients' conditions and the extent of benefit expected from wait-listed services. Points are assigned according to the severity of patients' symptoms and clinical findings.

Developing priority criteria for magnetic resonance imaging: results from the Western Canada Waiting List Project.

Objective: The Western Canada Waiting List (WCWL) Project is a federally funded partnership of 19 organizations, including medical associations, health authorities, ministries of health and research organizations, that was created to develop tools to assist in assessing the relative urgency and priority of patients on waiting lists. The WCWL panel on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was 1 of 5 panels constituted under this project.

Methods: The panel developed and tested a set of standardized clinical criteria for setting priorities among patients awaiting MRI.

Developing priority criteria for general surgery: results from the Western Canada Waiting List Project.

Objective: The Western Canada Waiting List Project (WCWL) is a federally funded partnership of 19 organizations, including medical associations, health authorities, ministries of health and research organizations that was created to develop tools for improving the management of waiting lists. The WCWL general surgery panel was 1 of 5 panels constituted under this project.

Method: The panel developed and tested a set of standardized clinical criteria for setting priorities among patients awaiting elective general surgery of all kinds.

Developing cataract surgery priority criteria: results from the Western Canada Waiting List Project.

Background: The Western Canada Waiting List Project (WCWL) is a federally funded partnership of 19 organizations, including medical associations, health authorities, ministries of health and research organizations, that was created to develop tools to assist in the management of waiting lists. The WCWL cataract surgery panel, one of five panels constituted under this project, developed and tested a set of standardized clinical criteria for prioritizing among patients awaiting cataract surgery.

Methods: The cataract surgery panel was composed of seven academic and community ophthalmologists, two family physicians, an optometrist, a health care services researcher and a health information specialist.

Lining up for children's mental health services: a tool for prioritizing waiting lists.

Objective: The Western Canada Waiting List Project (WCWL) is a federally funded partnership of 19 health-related organizations that was created to develop tools to manage waiting lists for five types of health services.

Method: The children's mental health (CMH) panel developed and tested a set of standardized clinical criteria for setting priorities among patients awaiting CMH services. The criteria were applied to 817 patients by 92 mental health professionals in three western provinces.

The Oregon priority-setting exercise: quality of life and public policy.

In 1989 the Oregon State legislature passed the Oregon Basic Health Services Act, which created a Health Services Commission charged with "developing a priority list of health services, ranging from the most important to the least important for the entire population to be served." The goal of this legislation was to permit the expansion of Medicaid to 100 percent of all Oregonians living in poverty by covering only services deemed to be of sufficient importance or priority..