ESTIMATING QALYS IN THE WESTERN REGION OF ROMANIA â€" THE CASE WITH INTERVENTION

Pantea Marius () and Gligor Delia ()
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Pantea Marius: West University of Timisoara, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration,
Gligor Delia: West University of Timisoara, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration,

Annals of Faculty of Economics, 2013, vol. 1, issue 1, 290-299

Abstract: Currently, we are in the process of experimenting a diversification and refinement of the consumerâ€(tm)s expectations, as well as a growing demand for innovative, quality products and customized services, exacerbated by rapid technological change affecting both them and the producers. It is also the case of health services that, with Romaniaâ€(tm)s accession to the EU, must align to the European requirements. In the context of limited public resources and growing healthcare needs, socio-economic criteria are necessary for substantiating allocation decisions. With the continuous increase in costs of medical interventions but also the expansion of the range of treatment options available, there is a need to develop and use a range of tools to help establish treatment adopted in the context of justifying the benefits resulting from its implementation. In health, the greatest difficulty for the documentation of investment projects is the main overall effect measurement and evaluation - improving quality of life. Although treated in the literature in terms of specialized clinical trials, there is not currently a methodology to address the economic evaluation of investment projects in health. In this sense, our studyâ€(tm)s objective is to develop and test a framework to estimate the most appropriate indicator that assesses improvements in quality of life due to healthcare investment projects. We have started with an extensive literature review that allowed us to identify the most recommended indicator in this sense - quality adjusted life years (QALYs) and also to develop and test a conceptual framework. We then realized a survey on 131 medical professionals form the Western Region of Romania, for the two main medical causes of decease, and based on the information collected we calculated the QALYs following a medical intervention. The values obtained reflect the impact of healthcare interventions in terms of quality of life improvements and have a high informational content being useful for those involved in policy making and building institutional capacity in terms of public resources allocation.

Keywords: cost-benefit analysis; economic analysis; public healthcare; quality adjusted life year; quality of life (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D61 H43 I15 I18 I31 J17 O22 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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