QUALITY-OF-LIFE MEASURES AS PROVIDERS OF INFORMATION ON VALUE-FOR-MONEY OF HEALTH INTERVENTIONS - COMPARISON AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR PRACTICE

Three different approaches to measuring quality of life have been deve loped. Global scales (e.g. time trade-off, visual analogue), multi-att ribute utility Scales and multidimensional scales (which may be generi c or disease-specific). Each of these approaches to measurement provid es different kinds of information about quality of life and each can b e used to provide information to healthcare purchasers concerning the relative value-for-money of health interventions. The value-for-money of health interventions, in terms of quality of life, can be demonstra ted in 2 ways: a formula-driven approach based on cost-utility analysi s, which uses scales generating the unit of a quality-adjusted life-ye ar (i.e. global and multi-attribute utility); and a non-formula-driven approach, which uses scales generating multidimensional profiles of q uality of life (i.e. multi-attribute utility and multidimensional). An alysis shows that no single approach is sufficient, and that healthcar e purchasers should use a variety of types of information in their dec ision-making, including both cost-utility and informal approaches. Hea lthcare resource allocation is inevitably a value-dependent activity.