Valuing health at the end of life: a stated preference discrete choice experiment

Abstract: In January 2009, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) issued supplementary advice to its Appraisal Committees to be taken into account when appraising life-extending ‘end of life’ treatments. This indicated that if certain criteria are met, it may be appropriate to recommend the use of end of life treatments that offer an extension to life even if their reference case incremental cost effectiveness ratios exceed the upper end of the range normally considered acceptable. However, the public consultation carried out by NICE revealed concerns that there is little evidence to support the premise that society is prepared to fund life-extending end of life treatments that would not meet the cost effectiveness criteria used for other treatments. In this seminar, I will present findings from an empirical study which elicited priority setting preferences of the general public concerning various end of life scenarios.