New findings presented by the Cancer Support Community suggest that a significant proportion of patients have difficulty conceptualizing value in terms of current cost-benefit models used by policymakers.
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Do Value Frameworks Benefit Patients?
Docs, and patients, should remember to use generics
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Recent actions by prominent government and private organizations have necessitated that health care institutions give a greater consideration to value when developing treatment plans and discussing how to best proceed with treatment. As a result, a number of medical societies, such as the American Society of Clinical Oncology, National Comprehensive Cancer Network, and the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review, have developed value frameworks with the intention of assisting patients and providers better understand the value of care being delivered. However, the effectiveness of these tools and their ability to communicate these metrics to patients has been questioned.
Using the Cancer Support Community’s Cancer Experience registry—an online initiative to capture the experiences of patients and caregivers impacted by cancer—researchers recruited 1415 patients and asked them open-ended questions about how they defined value during their cancer experience.
Overall, 40% of respondents considered value in terms of personal benefit while 31% defined it within the context of their health. Twenty-nine percent of patients responded that they did not understand the question or that they felt there was “no value.”
Among those who did define value within the context of their health, only 10.1% cited reasons related directly to cost while the majority (41%) saw value as the best possible cancer treatment available.
In a statement delivered alongside the release of the study, Kim Thiboldeaux, chief executive officer of Cancer Support Community, expressed disappointment with the results and blamed the process by which frameworks are developed for the disconnect.
“Of all the proposed formulas for measuring value in health care, there is not yet one that accurately takes into account the personal preferences and values of the people intended to receive this care,” said Ms Thiboldeaux. “We continue to find in our research that the patient voice is not fully represented in value framework discussions.”
She, and the researchers behind the study are calling for a greater consideration of the patient perspective during the development and implementation of value frameworks developed by ASCO and others.
