We are writing regarding the April 2022 issue’s themed section on the EQ Health and Wellbeing (EQ-HWB) patient-reported outcome measure (PROM).
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 We agree with the authors, there is significant need to improve measures and methods for collecting health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and well-being data, and improve the incorporation of such data into patient-centered value and health technology assessment.
2 We need new measures to overcome significant limitations of existing measures, especially regarding patient centricity and methodologically sound development. Nevertheless, we do not believe the EQ-HWB represents an improvement. We disagree with the development approaches taken and believe that among the many limitations we identified, the following 2 fatal flaws appear to render the EQ-HWB unusable: (1) there was insufficient patient engagement in the tool’s development, and consequently (2) it is unclear what the new tool measures.