USE OF ECONOMIC EVALUATIONS OF HEALTH TECHNOLOGIES IN DUTCH HEALTHCARE DECISION-MAKING- BARRIERS AND FACILITATORS
Author(s)
Roseboom KJ1, van Dongen JM1, Tompa E2, van Tulder MW1, Bosmans JE1
1VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2Institute for Work & Health, Toronto, ON, Canada
OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to provide insight into the current and potential use of economic evaluations in Dutch healthcare decision-making and to identify barriers and facilitators to the use of such studies. METHODS: Interviews containing semi-structured and structured questions were conducted among Dutch healthcare decision-makers. Responses to the semi-structured questions were analyzed using a constant comparative approach. For the responses to the structured questions, summary statistics were prepared. RESULTS: Sixteen healthcare decision-makers from the macro- (national), meso- (local/regional), and micro-level (patient setting) were interviewed as well as two health economic experts Decision-makers’ knowledge of economic evaluations was only modest, and their current use appeared to be limited. Nonetheless, decision-makers recognized the importance of economic evaluations and saw several opportunities for extending their use at the macro- and meso-level, but not at the micro-level. The disparity between the limited use and recognition of the importance of economic evaluations is likely due to the many barriers decision-makers experience preventing their use. Such barriers include a lack of resources, methodological factors, lack of consensus-based willingness-to-pay thresholds, lack of relevant economic evaluations, public resistance, incentives to treat, ambiguity about the physicians’ responsibility for improving the efficiency of healthcare, and a limited ability to shift resources between sectors. Possible facilitators for extending the use of economic evaluations include educating decision-makers and the general population about economic evaluations, presenting economic evaluation results in a clearer and more understandable way, providing incentives for using economic evaluations, and improving the reliability, consistency, and transparency of economic evaluations. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated that the current use and impact of economic evaluations in Dutch healthcare decision-making is limited at best. Therefore, strategies are needed to overcome the barriers that currently prevent economic evaluations from being used extensively, and recommendations will be provided as to what those strategies could be.
Conference/Value in Health Info
2015-11, ISPOR Europe 2015, Milan, Italy
Value in Health, Vol. 18, No. 7 (November 2015)
Code
PHP149
Topic
Health Policy & Regulatory, Health Service Delivery & Process of Care, Health Technology Assessment, Real World Data & Information Systems
Topic Subcategory
Approval & Labeling, Decision & Deliberative Processes, Health & Insurance Records Systems, Health Care Research, Reimbursement & Access Policy
Disease
Multiple Diseases
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