QALY Maximization and the Social Optimum

Guillem López-Casasnovas () and José Luis Pinto Prades ()
Additional contact information
Guillem López-Casasnovas: Universitat Pompeu Fabra
José Luis Pinto Prades: Universidad de Navarra

Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, 2022, vol. 242, issue 3, 111-127

Abstract: The quality-adjusted life year (QALY) approach as a paradigmatic measure of health outcomes is widely used in the economic evaluation of health policies and is even trying to be emulated in other public policy areas. The objective of this paper is to structure the arguments underlying the use of QALYs in cost-effectiveness analyses, which condition its applicability. To this effect, the paper intervenes in the unreasonable use of the approach in terms of its limitations when prioritizing health services. In short, the authors are generally in favor of the instrument but do not have blanket enthusiasm in support of it.

Keywords: QALY; Cost effectiveness; Thresholds; Economic evaluation; Pharmaeconomics. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H51 I14 I18 I31 K23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://hpe-rpe.org/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?juwpfi ... 41586d61bb&preview=1 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hpe:journl:y:2022:v:242:i:3:p:111-127

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics from IEF Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Miguel Gómez de Antonio ().