Making use of equity sensitive QALYs: a case study on identifying the worse off across diseases

Conclusion: This study shows that it is feasible to identify who are the worse off empirically by the application of lifetime QALYs and proportional shortfalls. These methods ease further examination of whether there is a true conflict between maximization and equity or whether these two concerns actually coincide in real world cases. It is yet to be solved whether proportional prospective health losses are more important than absolute shortfalls in expected lifetime health in judgements about who are worse off.
Source: Cost Effectiveness and Resource Allocation - Category: Health Management Authors: Source Type: research