Eleanor M. Perfetto, PhD, MS, senior vice president of Strategic Initiatives for the National Health Council, discusses criticisms of the quality-adjusted life year (QALY) and what factors the measure does not take into account.
Eleanor M. Perfetto, PhD, MS, senior vice president of Strategic Initiatives for the National Health Council, discusses criticisms of the quality-adjusted life year (QALY) and what factors the measure does not take into account.
Transcript
What are some criticisms of the QALY measure, and what factors does the measure not take into account that some argue it should?
Some of the limitations that the QALYs have are things like potentially being discriminatory against people who are older or people who have severe illnesses or disabilities, so those are things that need to be taken into consideration. Very often the QALY does not take into account patient views. So it’s really important that if a value assessment or a health technology assessment is going to be conducted that’s going to be using a QALY, the entire assessment should have patient input into it.
From the patient perspective, what concerns do they have with the QALY, and have there been efforts to try and include the patient voice into these measures?
One of the concerns that patients and patient groups have about the use of the QALY is that it might be used to prevent access to care or limited access to care, so that’s a major concern that if a QALY is being used by someone who is making a decision, that it be used in context with other elements and not alone and that a QALY shouldn’t be the decision maker.
In value assessment or in health technology assessment, there have been some efforts to include the patient voice. It’s really important that it be incorporated into the entire process and not be a check the box exercise that only happens at one point during the evaluation that’s happening. So, it’s really important that patients are at the table start to finish and having their voice heard.
Standard Criteria for Loss of Ambulation Needed in DMD
April 19th 2024A recent study suggests the differences between ambulation definitions for patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) can impact the identification of ambulant vs nonambulant individuals, and standard criteria across settings are needed.
Read More
The Importance of Examining and Preventing Atrial Fibrillation
August 29th 2023At this year’s American Society for Preventive Cardiology Congress on CVD Prevention, Emelia J. Benjamin, MD, ScM, delivered the Honorary Fellow Award Lecture, “The Imperative to Focus on the Prevention of Atrial Fibrillation,” as the recipient of this year’s Honorary Fellow of the American Society for Preventive Cardiology award.
Listen
An Overview of Health Care and Pharmaceutical Trends, 2023-2024
April 19th 2024Douglas M. Long, BA, MBA, was featured as the keynote speaker on the closing day of The Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy 2024 annual meeting, with a session dedicated to surveying the health care and pharmaceutical trends of the last year.
Read More
Promoting Equity in Public Health: Policy, Investment, and Community Engagement Solutions
June 28th 2022On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we speak with Georges C. Benjamin, MD, executive director of the American Public Health Association, on the core takeaways of his keynote session at AHIP 2022 on public health policy and other solutions to promote equitable health and well-being.
Listen
Collecting SDOH Data Can Assess Risk of Medical Nonadherence, Improve HEI and Star Ratings
April 18th 2024At the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP) 2024 annual meeting, a panel of presenters explored changes coming to Medicare that incorporate social determinants of health (SDOH) data to improve patient and health system outcomes.
Read More