Health-State Utility Assessment

Health-state utilities are often required to quantify preferences for different health outcomes. The most common use of health-state utilities is in cost-utility analysis. We have experience and expertise in conducting all types of health-state utility elicitation and estimation studies, including time-tradeoff (TTO), standard-gamble (SG), and multivariate utility function estimation.

In many instances, conventional quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) estimates obtained by these methods do not fairly measure the benefits patients realize from a treatment. Examples include improvements in acute, self-limiting conditions for which conventional health-state utility measures are insensitive. Conventional utility measures also provide little evidence about improved satisfaction and better adherence from more convenient dosing and improved mild-to-moderate side-effect profiles. Conjoint methods can elicit generalized time-tradeoff and standard-gamble utilities that incorporate such benefits as well as conventional outcome effects. Generalized QALY estimates are useful for documenting improved patient satisfaction and treatment effectiveness before clinical-trial or observational data are available.