Alternative approaches for assessing the socioeconomic benefits of medical devices: a systematic review

Abstract

Many medical devices offer improvements over current care that may be difficult to assess using standard methods of economic benefit measurement such as the quality-adjusted life-year (QALY). The objective of this research was to explore the extent to which these benefits have been measured and valued by alternative approaches, such as willingness-to-pay studies or discrete choice experiments. We undertook a systematic review of the literature from 1996 to 2013 to identify empirical studies on the benefits of medical devices using the alternative methodologies. The search resulted in 2772 hits, of which 2016 were considered not relevant to the study and 76 were duplicates. After further examination, there were 30 relevant empirical studies, of which 18 were willingness-to-pay and 12 discrete choice experiments. This research demonstrates that while it is feasible to measure and value the attributes of devices using alternative approaches to standard quality-of-life measures, the literature is quite limited when compared with that for non-device technologies.

Keywords:

• economic evaluation
• quality-adjusted life-year
• discrete choice experiments
• willingness-to-pay
• stated preferences

Financial & competing interests disclosure

This study was funded by an unrestricted grant from the European Health Technology Institute (EHTI). European Health Technology Institute was an institutional partnership between academic institutions (London School of Economics, London and Bocconi University, Milan), several European policy-makers and the medical devices Industry (represented by Eucomed). The Institute ended its activities in September 2014. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

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