VALUING OUTCOMES IN HEALTH-CARE - A COMPARISON OF WILLINGNESS-TO-PAY AND QUALITY-ADJUSTED LIFE-YEARS

Quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) and willingness to pay (WTP) are t wo preference-based measures ui health-related outcomes. In this artic le, we compare these two measures in eliciting individuals' preference s for health outcomes associated with shingles. To collect the necessa ry preference data, we administered computer-interactive interviews to a sample oi 65- to 70-year-olds. We found no significant correlation between QALYs and WTP across individuals. We discuss our findings and argue that our results raise questions about whether QALYs and WTP are equivalent preference-based. measures oi health outcomes. (C) 1998 El sevier Science Inc.