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League Tables for Incremental Cost-Effectiveness Ratios

A cost-effectiveness league table is a listing of health interventions ranked by their incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) presented in terms of cost per life years, or cost per quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) gained. A typical table (see Table 1) starts with the most favorable (lowest ICER) intervention and ends with the least favorable one (highest ICER). League tables are used to place findings of a cost-effectiveness analysis in a broader context and help determine whether a specific intervention presents “good value for the money.” They may be used for informing resource allocation decisions: Under a fixed budget constraint, healthcare resources are allocated starting with interventions with the lowest ICER and moving to higher ICERs until the entire budget is consumed.

Cost-Effectiveness Analysis and Rationing

Cost-effectiveness analysis is a method of economic evaluation in which costs and outcomes of a program and at least one alternative are compared. The difference in cost (incremental cost) is divided by the difference in outcomes (incremental effect) to derive the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio. Although any natural unit of outcome can be used to determine a program's effect, the common metrics used are life years or QALYs gained because they allow for comparisons across diverse treatments and diseases.

An analysis using cost per QALY as an outcome measure is sometimes referenced as a cost-utility analysis. This is the most widely used method for informing resource allocation decisions in healthcare. As opposed to benefit-cost analysis, cost-effectiveness studies do not present health outcomes in monetary terms, which would permit a straightforward comparison of costs and benefits to determine whether an intervention is worthwhile. As a result, the relative value for the money of an intervention can only be interpreted by a reference to an external standard. This standard can be a benchmark or threshold value (e.g., $50,000 per QALY gained) below which an intervention can be considered to be “good value for the money” or a comparison of the relative cost-effectiveness of various interventions of which some may be already covered by health plans.

History of League Table Presentation

The presentation of league tables (so called after the tables used for British soccer league standings) and comparisons between healthcare interventions in terms of their relative cost-effectiveness became fashionable in the 1980s. Since a common metric is used (life years or QALYs), league tables can be useful for the comparison and ranking of diverse interventions to improve health, from public health or environmental programs to medical technology. One of the first league tables was presented by John Graham and James Vaupel and included estimates of cost per life saved and cost per life year saved. Allan Williams presented a league table for the United Kingdom in his seminal work on the economics of coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). Other examples of comprehensive league tables can be found in the work of Tammy Tengs and colleagues, who presented in 1996 a list of more than 500 “life-saving” interventions and their relative cost-effectiveness and, more recently, in the data presented in the Tufts Medical Center Cost-Effectiveness Analysis Registry, gathered through an extensive review of cost-effectiveness analyses published since 1976.

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