METHODS FOR HEALTH ECONOMIC EVALUATIONS OF VACCINES - RESULTS FROM AN INTERNATIONAL EXPERT-WORKSHOP

Author(s)

Ultsch B1, Damm O2, Beutels P3, Bilcke J3, Brüggenjürgen B4, Gerber-Grote AU5, Greiner W2, Hanquet G6, Harder T7, Hutubessy R8, Jit M9, Knol M10, Kuhlmann A11, von Kries R12, Levy-Bruhl D13, Perleth M14, Postma MJ15, Salo H16, Siebert U17, Wasem J18, Weidemann F19, Wichmann O7
1Robert Koch Institute / Charité University Medical Center, Berlin, Germany, 2School of Public Health, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany, 3University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium, 4Steinbeis University Berlin (SHB), Berlin, Germany, 5Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG), Cologne, Germany, 6Belgian Health Care Knowledge Centre (KCE), Brussels, Belgium, 7Robert Koch Institute, Berlin, Germany, 8World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland, 9London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine / Public Health England (PHE), London, UK, 10RIVM - Centre for Infectious Disease Control, Bilthoven, The Netherlands, 11Leibniz Universität Hannover, Hannover, Germany, 12Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich (LMU), Munich, Germany, 13Institut de Veille Sanitaire, Saint-Maurice Cedex, France, 14Gemeinsamer Bundesausschuss (G-BA), Berlin, Germany, 15University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands, 16National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland, 17Medical Informatics and Technology, and Director of the Division for Health Technology Assessment and Bioinformatics, Oncotyrol, Hall i. T, Austria, 18University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany, 19Robert Koch Institute / Charité Berlin, Berlin, Germany

OBJECTIVES Health economic evaluations (HEEs) of vaccines are commonly considered during immunization introduction decision-making processes in most industrialized countries. Despite the availability of guidelines advocating more standardization for such HEEs, there are still several infection/immunization-specific particularities that are debated in the scientific community. An international expert-workshop was convened to identify good practices for (i) how to conduct HEEs of vaccines and (ii) how to consider results of HEE in vaccine introduction decision-making. METHODS A systematic literature search was conducted to identify prevailing opinions and remaining issues of HEE in vaccination. Twenty-two experts in the field of health economics and immunization decision-making were invited to a workshop and were asked to answer a survey-questionnaire based on the systematic literature search beforehand to inform the preparation of group work sessions (GWS). In GWS, issues focusing on ‘mathematical modeling’, ‘health economics’, and ‘decision-making’ were discussed and summarized. RESULTS The GWS (based on systematic literature search) included topics such as cost-components, quality of life (QoL), discounting, and perspectives leading to suggestions such as including caregiver QoL impact and applying decreasing time-related discount rates. Since vaccination often causes indirect effects, the use of dynamic models is required and exceptions should be justified. In order to facilitate transparent decision-making, the results of HEE should present parameter and methodological uncertainty as well as cumulative and time-specific figures. The majority of countries in Europe use results from HEEs in an informal judgment-process without willingness to pay (WTP) threshold. The expert-group emphasized that transparency should be maximized in decision-making process. CONCLUSIONS The deliberations led to suggestions on several HEE issues. However, vaccines not always need to be considered differently in HEE since other interventions might share similar characteristics. Transparency in the conduct and presentation of HEE, and subsequent decision-making is essential, especially in the absence of explicit WTP thresholds.

Conference/Value in Health Info

2014-11, ISPOR Europe 2014, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Value in Health, Vol. 17, No. 7 (November 2014)

Code

PRM51

Topic

Economic Evaluation, Methodological & Statistical Research

Topic Subcategory

Cost/Cost of Illness/Resource Use Studies, Modeling and simulation, PRO & Related Methods

Disease

Infectious Disease (non-vaccine)

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