Alternative Approaches to Quality-Adjusted Life-Year Estimation Within Standard Cost-Effectiveness Models: Literature Review, Feasibility Assessment, and Impact Evaluation.

Objectives: The quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) has been long debated, but alternative estimation approaches have not been comprehensively evaluated. Our objective was to identify alternatives, characterize them by implementation feasibility, and evaluate the impact of implementing feasible options in cost-effectiveness models developed for the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review reports.

Methods: We conducted a literature review combining keywords relating to QALYs, methodology alternatives, and cost-effectiveness in PubMed, EconLit, Web of Science, and MEDLINE.

Adoption of Cost Effectiveness-Driven Value-Based Formularies in Private Health Insurance from 2010 to 2013.

Background And Objective: It is unclear whether private insurance benefit designs align with the most widely used ex-US definition of value, the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER). A large Pacific Northwest private insurance plan explicitly implemented a tiered formulary based on cost-effectiveness estimates of individual drugs in 2010, resulting in cost savings to the plan without negatively affecting patient health service utilization. Given the pressures of rising costs, we investigate whether employer-based private health insurance plans have adopted value-based cost-sharing approaches that are in line with cost-effectiveness estimates.

The Authors Respond: Reframing the Value of Treatments for Relapsed Refractory Multiple Myeloma.

Funding for the Carlson et al. study was provided in part by the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review. Ollendorf, Synnott, Chapman, and Pearson disclosed grants from Blue Shield of California Foundation, California Health Care Foundation, Laura and John Arnold Foundation, Aetna, AHIP, Anthem, Blue Shield of California, CVS Caremark, Express Scripts, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, OmedaRx, United Healthcare, Kaiser Permanente, Premera, AstraZeneca, Genentech, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, National Pharmaceutical Council, Takeda, Pfizer, Novartis, Lilly, Spark Therapeutics, Sanofi, Prime Therapeutics, and Health Care Service Corporation.

Cost-effectiveness of Drugs to Treat Relapsed/Refractory Multiple Myeloma in the United States.

Background: New 3-drug regimens have been developed and approved to treat multiple myeloma (MM). The absence of direct comparative data and the high cost of treatment support the need to assess the relative clinical and economic outcomes across all approved regimens.

Objective: To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of treatments for relapsed and/or refractory MM from a U.

Provider costs for prevention and treatment of cardiovascular and related conditions in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review.

Background: The burden of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and CVD risk conditions is rapidly increasing in low- and middle-income countries, where health systems are generally ill-equipped to manage chronic disease. Policy makers need an understanding of the magnitude and drivers of the costs of cardiovascular disease related conditions to make decisions on how to allocate limited health resources.

Methods: We undertook a systematic review of the published literature on provider-incurred costs of treatment for cardiovascular diseases and risk conditions in low- and middle-income countries.

The consequences of tobacco tax on household health and finances in rich and poor smokers in China: an extended cost-effectiveness analysis.

Background: In China, there are more than 300 million male smokers. Tobacco taxation reduces smoking-related premature deaths and increases government revenues, but has been criticised for disproportionately affecting poorer people. We assess the distributional consequences (across different wealth quintiles) of a specific excise tax on cigarettes in China in terms of both financial and health outcomes.