Healthcare workers are being urged to share their views on a new value set to measure how treatments improve patients’ quality of life.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) last week launched a public consultation on the proposed adoption of the new EQ-5D-5LA value set.
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The institute said that the EQ-5D is a short questionnaire used to understand how a person’s health affects their quality of life. Answers are converted into a single number – a ‘utility value’ – using a mathematical model called a value set.
A value set comes from asking members of the public to judge different health states and what they think the impact of each is.
These utility values – combined with information about how a treatment extends length of life – are then used during NICE’s cost-effectiveness evaluations to assess whether a certain treatment offers value for money.
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NICE said that it has currently been using an old value set based on data from the early 1990s, but the new EQ-5D-5L value set offers a ‘more accurate reflection of how people in the UK think about health and quality of life today’.
The consultation includes proposed updates to NICE’s methods manuals, alongside the results of three impact assessments explaining how the EQ-5D-5L could affect:
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- Cost-effectiveness calculations;
- The number of decisions qualifying for the severity modifier and how it changes the quality-adjusted life year (QALY) shortfall estimates; and
- Equalities and health inequalities.
The consultation is open to patients, clinicians, industry representatives, academics and other stakeholders from Wednesday 15 April to Wednesday 13 May.
NICE is also holding a webinar to discuss the new value set, what its adoption means for future decision-making, and how people can get involved in the consultation.
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